Ben Dunne Gym Reopening: No Swimming Pool and 50% Price Increase!

strongback

Nate--IRL-- wrote: »

First day back in the Gym (Northwood) in a year and a half. Place is huge now with the pool gone, and a great selections of new equipment and new racks. Very Impressed.

One thing though I'd assumed that once Covid is behind us that there would be showers to use again, but it looks like they have been removed entirely. Has anyone heard if no showers onsite is permanent? It will make hitting the Gym before work impossible.

Nate

The gym floor is impressive with the amount of equipment they have. The gym floor is now very big with the swimming pool filled in.

They have lockers for valuables but there are no cubicles for changing.

The selling point of the gym is the number of racks, benches, free weights and there are plenty of good quality Hammer Strength machines.

The place now looks like a very good hardcore bodybuilding gym.

No classes, no S&C area and no pool. Just weights, machines and cardio equipment.

Ben has gone full bore into weight training and no showers. Time will tell if people go for it.

The Davestator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117530864#Comment_117530864

He's flip flopped so often, he doesn't know what business he is in!

When he opened Westpoint in Blanch, it was a 5 star, expensive gym. It didn't go well, so he turned it into a budget gym.

When he attracted a budget crowd of people into weights, he removed all dumbbells over 30kg to get rid of this crowd.

He never did classes, but saw that this was not sustainable so copied what everyone was doing (fair enough)

He then went back towards nicer clubs such as Northwood, but lost a ton of money in most of the wet clubs.

Now gone to dry facilities only and increased the price

Now, removed showers so no longer cater for his corporate members in his clubs such as Cherrywood and Sandyford.

It's lucky he has plenty of capital as his gym business would be long gone by now if he didn't.

hold my beer

I love the Carlisle gym but getting rid of the showers and changing rooms means I won't renew when my membership is up. I really hate getting back into my car sweaty. I was told by the manager that he has no plans to put the showers back in. They must have absolutely hemorrhaged numbers. Think he'll regret the changes in the long run.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763850#Comment_117763850

Not much sign of dwindling numbers in Northwood

hold my beer

I've changed the times I go at so it's hard to tell. The car park in Carlisle was always very busy in the mornings. It's very sparse now in the afternoon.

Shirlywhirl

Is Blanchardstown busy these days? I’ve passed the car park a few times and it seems emptier than usual.

The Davestator

It didn't take long!

All showers re-opening within 2 weeks

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117823738#Comment_117823738

Not in Northwood... They are gone completely

The Davestator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824676#Comment_117824676

According to their facebook page, all gyms will have showers open. Specifically mentions NW too.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117826063#Comment_117826063

Cheers. At the moment, I don't see where they will have the showers. Good to hear though.

strongback

Signs up in Northwood says the showers will reopen by today. I was there yesterday and no showers open.

Raoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117883384#Comment_117883384

I was there yesterday too. You can currently see right into the changing rooms and showers? It will be another few days by the looks of it.

RoryMac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777130#Comment_117777130

Pretty busy in the evenings anyway, hard to know if its as busy as pre-covid because of the extra space with the pool gone.

Shirlywhirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117893989#Comment_117893989

Thanks! I rejoined in the end. It's been very quiet weekend mornings and lunchtimes but I walked out one evening as it was so busy. I'll stick with it a while anyway and see what the extension to Flyefit does for its crowds!

rondog

Theres a new FLyfit going up at Northside where the Blacker used to be.

Should be a decent sized gym if they used the entire space.

Raoul

Is there a limit on the number of people allowed in a building now? Northwood is very busy and people are back to group training too.

I did see a one of the guys working there going around with some sort of monitor. Perhaps it was a CO2 monitor. This guy is an anti vaxxer though as I heard him proclaim to someone how he wasn't getting vaccinated.

They have scrapped the membership fee and the price is down to 25 euro per month. Fairly reasonable.

Levitate

Anyone know if there are any punching bags in the gym?

el Fenomeno

When did Ben Dunne Sandyford close? I was out that way the other day for the first time in ages and saw a sign saying it was permanently closed.

Also out that way, I see on FB that BHAF are also closing which is sad. I was a member there a few years ago when I lived nearby and it was the best gym I've ever been to.

seanfitness

One of the reason why they're closed is because personal trainers won't work for them because they want them to work unpaid in lieu of rent for private sessions doing the work of the cleaners they got rid of. Nobody will take a personal trainer seriously when they see the scrubbing toilets.