Kilkenny Ormonde Leisure Club

"This is the worst leisure centre in the city. The changing rooms are dirty, no towels provided and the pool opening times are not as advertised. Online the pool is supposed to be open until 9:30 on a Friday night, I arrived at 8:10 and was advised the pool would be closing in 10 mins. Apparently it’s been like this since Christmas with no notification to members or update to online information. Not the 1st instances of this happening to me! If you are visiting Kilkenny or live in Kilkenny, avoid the ormonde hotel and it’s leisure center."

"Wanted to wait a year into the membership before writing a proper review. The place deserves it. I've left two gyms in Kilkenny before because I was uncomfortable with the sanitary consistency of the facilities. The Ormonde is brilliant in this regard. Everything feels maintained and aseptic. I'm very easily unimpressed, and it's gratifying to be somewhere I feel comfortable all the time. It liberates me to forget all my little obsessive compulsions. The place itself is just an amazingly comforting environment. To be so central to the flow of human traffic in town, only then to go down the stairway and become suspended in a private little world. Like an oasis for my personal progress. It's nice to go in and forget about Tuesday. Forget about the fact it is raining. Forget about dwindling obligations. Just swipe the key and focus on self-care and self-fulfillment for two hours or so. It's a great feeling to come in from the winter elements, only to have the dressing room floors heated under foot. Start the session off as one means to go on. I'm never cold there. Staff are just as warm. Leaving you be to your work, but always on call at an inquiry. Only as eager as you'd like them to be... Realized one day that they just all knew my name, even without informal introductions. I suspect that's the case for all members. They are instinctively amiable. One would have to adopt unreasonable expectations to truly test the limit of how accommodating they can be. My mother and I have very different fitness ambitions, yet both of us feel enabled to fulfill those goals by the facilities. A testimony to what I'm sure is an incredibly difficult balance to achieve for any gym. There are quiet periods and busy days, busy periods and quiet days. My fellow misanthropes can find - by trial and error and inference - hours in the day where there is little competition for machines and racks. Those who want to exercise as part of a vibrant community will find more social times later in the afternoons. The playlist of gym music is phenomenally eclectic. Either the confluence of a committee of diverse tastes, or the product of one incredibly interesting individual (I suspect Elaine and/or Ger). Either way, it's jumping backwards and forwards in the decades, crossing genre. Bread & Circuses: Bangers for all. If you're not hearing something you like on the speakers during your session, then I'm sorry to be the one to tell you about your lack of taste. I only had one day in the spa. The kind of place that you could only disapprove of if one were unnaturally disaffected by serenity and ease. As far as they are selling anything, it's something resembling equanimity. A safe place within a safe place. The labyrinth within the oasis. It's a top class sauna, and it is even better since the upgrade. The conversations and company inside the sauna and steam room are a bit of a lucky dip, but that's hardly the fault of the leisure centre. Membership feels like a cross section of Kilkenny itself. As pluralist as the High Street: New Irish. Old Irish. Blow-ins. Transplants. Folks as local as black marble. Students. Retirees. Graduates. Tradespeople. Pros as swole as oak. 18 year old newbies. 60 year old beginners. Members knee deep in long term progress. Members yet to experience waking up to DOMS. Not sure who could possibly feel unwelcome there. Only missing seems to be single women my own age - although maybe they go when I'm not there. A forcibly nuanced review would point out negatives or subjective weaknesses. But I would only be making them up (and God knows: some white-collar in an office across the street will disregard all praise and only focus on fabricated negatives). 5 stars out of 5. 100 marks out of 100. First prize. No notes."

"Very relaxing place. I like to go there. Great membership deals. Unfortunately can’t rate with 5 stars just because of the cleanliness at women showers. It need more attention!"

"Absolutely amazing spa!! The most relaxing experience. And jessie is just amazing!!!! Loved every minute. Little treats after the treatment were fab!!!"