North East London Gymnastics Club in London

The management is terrible. They are extremely (and unnecessarily) strict about everything (for example if children are slightly late they are not allowed in the class) and because they have a long waiting list they don't seem to appreciate their customers or care about how much inconvenience or stress their strict rules may cause. I can't comment on the quality of the teaching because we have not been allowed to observe the lessons for over a year. There used to be a viewing gallery upstairs where parents could wait during the lesson and observe their children, but because of a simple leak in the roof they closed it down indefinitely over a year ago leaving everyone stranded during the lessons and unable to observe the children anymore. When parents requested to sit in a lesson to be able to see their child's progress, it was denied. "Fire regulations" are always cited as the excuse whenever they want to apply their strict rules. Buggies and scooters are not allowed and must be left outside, even if there is a child sleeping which creates a lot of problems when you have one child to get ready for class and a baby sleeping in the buggy, while knowing that once they close the door the child will not be allowed in the lesson anymore. It appears that the club uses the after school lessons mostly to support their competition team. Recently the fees were increased to over double the amount without an explanation and management attempted to disguise it by requiring a monthly payment instead of the previous payment once a term. The fees were only increased for the first lesson per week, while children who do more than one lesson a week have to pay very little for every additional weekly lesson (the children doing several lessons a week are mostly the competition team). Overall I have been extremely unhappy for a long time and I wish I could take my children somewhere else but there are not many alternatives.