Local private gym with two pools!
I think this is the first UK private gym on the list! David Lloyd Lichfield is reasonably close to where I live so it’s been on the ‘rainy day’ to-do list for a while. It’s mid December, not raining but pretty cold at just 6 degrees so when I received an email this morning offering a 14 day membership for £14 I was on the site and registered in minutes.
I did swim here a few times approx. 20 years ago when the gym first opened as a Sportica, I wasn’t too keen as the pool was salt water, quite unusual and I think the only indoor salt water pool I’d ever experienced. There was also an outdoor 20m pool which never seemed to be open, which I thought had closed several years ago and filled in to make way for tennis courts.
Take the dog for a quick walk then head over to Shenstone / Wall. Reception staff super helpful, provide me with a membership card and a towel despite my temp membership! Chatting about not visiting for 20 years, I mention the salt water gripes and outdoor pool, pleased to be told the pool is now regular chlorine! and … the outdoor pool is not only still there, but now headed and open! Apparently it’s the last remaining headed outdoor pool open year-round in the midlands - this could be a two-pool trip!
Bizzarly, accosted by a guy with a huge box asking if I like decorating and seemingly trying to sell me some sanding blocks! Decline and enjoy the warm, clean changing rooms.
The 25m pool has two lanes, fast and medium on the right half of the pool and an open swim on the left. Two hot tubs, a sauna and steam room surround the pool deck and through the glass doors, really pleased to see the outdoor pool open and available to swim, decide to do a 1km inside then another outside.
The indoor pool is the water is cloudy, visibility is less than two metres, not ideal and takes a few lengths to gauge the distance to wall as the sub-surface lights come into view. After nearly crashing into the wall a few times, take the turns slow. Otherwise, the water is perfect temperature and less chlorinated than the average, something I have noticed at private health clubs, I can only imagine it’s because they have less people pissing in the pool!
Finish up the first 1km and head out into the freezing cold 6’ December afternoon air! (See next pool).
Swim Stats
- 1000 meters total swim
- 1:34 pace / 100m
- Garmin Swim 2 Watch
Review
(65/100)
Friendly staff, full sauna, steam room and gym facilities - but cloudy water!
Pool Details
- Length 25 meters
- 2-lane pool
- Indoor
David Lloyd Lichfield
One Lichfield South Wall Island, Shenstone, Lichfield WS14 0QP
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