Ben Dunne Beacon

BenEadir · 08-08-2011 5:36pm #1

Hi all,

Myself and my wife are members of Westwood and use it 3-5 times a week each. 90% of what we do is straightforward gym stuff (cardio and weights) with the very odd swim, steam room, squash or tennis game.

We're paying €1,800 per year (2 x €75 x 12) which in these times is quite a bit. We could save €1,440 if we switched to the new Ben Dunne gym opening in Beacon in Sept which has a special opening offer of €180 a member.

I know the Ben Dunne Gym won't have squash courts or tennis courts but apart from that I'm not sure what differences we'll notice.

My concerns and questions for those with either experience of Ben Dunne Gyms or anyone on here working in them are:-

1. Is the €180 membership a once off 'special' which will then jump significantly in the 2nd and subsequent years?
2. Is there a joining fee?
3. Is there ample free parking at the gym? I know the main car park serving Dunnes Stores etc is currently free for a few hours but that will eventually change. (no point saving € on membership if you have to pay €€€'s to park each time you visit!!)
4. Is the €180 membership off peak or restricted in any way?
5. Will there be any classes provided (e.g. spinning) and if so are they PAYG?
6. Will there be a pool and/or sauna or steam room?
7. Is there any way to find out exactly what equipment and facilities will be in the Beacon gym?

I don't expect a €180 a year gym to be on a par with a €900 a year gym but I'm seriously tempted to make the switch and put €1,440 in my pocket!!

Thoughts and/or comments anyone?

Ben (NOT the Dunne variety!!)

mrpink6789 · 08-08-2011 6:38pm

I dont know a huge amount but the only thing I do know is the 180 is only for the first 2 thousand customers, its 330 if you join in pairs. Either way whatever the normal fee is will be a lot cheaper then Westwood.
Also I dont see how they could offer more parking other then the 3 hours you get free in Dunnes.

Doug89 · 08-08-2011 6:46pm

I was a member in Carlisle when I was living in Dublin and I really can't fault the place.

Cheap as chips, clean, good range of machines and facilities, was open early and late. Happy days.

Glowing · 08-08-2011 6:56pm

If 90% of the time you do normal gym stuff why not try Bhaf.ie in Sandyford? Great atmosphere and only 29 a month ...

BenEadir · 09-08-2011 7:51am

mrpink6789 wrote: »

I dont know a huge amount but the only thing I do know is the 180 is only for the first 2 thousand customers, its 330 if you join in pairs. Either way whatever the normal fee is will be a lot cheaper then Westwood.
Also I dont see how they could offer more parking other then the 3 hours you get free in Dunnes.

€330 for the two of us sounds amazing, especially compared to €1,800!! I know there is free 3 hour parking at the moment but there's no guarantee that's going to last. I don't think they went to the trouble of putting in those barriers to just collect money from those staying over 3 hours!!

Doug89 wrote: »

I was a member in Carlisle when I was living in Dublin and I really can't fault the place.

Cheap as chips, clean, good range of machines and facilities, was open early and late. Happy days.

Sounds pretty good. Was there much queuing for machines? We only go in the morning so I don't see it being a problem for us personally. Wish it opened at 6am however, 6:30 is a bit late for us which I kow sounds mental but it is!!

Glowing wrote: »

If 90% of the time you do normal gym stuff why not try Bhaf.ie in Sandyford? Great atmosphere and only 29 a month ...

Becuase BHAF = €696 per year for both of us whereas Ben Dunne is less than half that at €330

Sounds like I have a decison to make!!

Ben (NOT Dunne!)

Zamboni · 09-08-2011 8:07am

I'd hold off getting a membership until I find out what the craic is with parking.
Paid parking could triple the price of that membership.

To be honest €180 for a gym is superb.
Mr. Dunne gets a lot of flak but he has given people access to decent gyms for the lowest prices in Dublin.
Not even the council gyms beat him on price.

His other gyms have their issues but overall they are big, spacious, reasonably equipped and clean enough.
I'd expect the new one in Sandyford to be equal if not better.

BenEadir · 09-08-2011 8:25am

Zamboni wrote: »

I'd hold off getting a membership until I find out what the craic is with parking.
Paid parking could triple the price of that membership.

To be honest €180 for a gym is superb.
Mr. Dunne gets a lot of flak but he has given people access to decent gyms for the lowest prices in Dublin.
Not even the council gyms beat him on price.

His other gyms have their issues but overall they are big, spacious, reasonably equipped and clean enough.
I'd expect the new one in Sandyford to be equal if not better.

Zamboni, thanks for the solid advice.

Do you know if Ben Dunne offer a cooling off period whereby if you're not happy you can cancel your membership within X days/weeks and get a full refund? I'd be happy to sign up day one if they offered that.

Zamboni · 09-08-2011 8:32am

BenEadir wrote: »

Zamboni, thanks for the solid advice.

Do you know if Ben Dunne offer a cooling off period whereby if you're not happy you can cancel your membership within X days/weeks and get a full refund? I'd be happy to sign up day one if they offered that.

I would doubt it.
I'd wait until the finished product is up and running for a month or two and then decide whether to join after checking the place and parking out.
There will always be special deals.

dublander · 09-08-2011 5:58pm

The parking has been free for 3 hours there for as long as I remember (approx 3 years!). I wouldn't be worrying about that, there's loads of underground parking and don't think some of the other stores (dunnes, obriens etc) would be too happy if that were to change. The 3 hours thing is only to deter people parking there all day & heading off to work

dublander · 09-08-2011 6:01pm

I should mention also though that I had a look in where its supposed to be going & nothing has been done at all. The place is just a shell, I can't see how it's supposed to be open in September!

BenEadir · 09-08-2011 8:25pm

dublander wrote: »

The parking has been free for 3 hours there for as long as I remember (approx 3 years!). I wouldn't be worrying about that, there's loads of underground parking and don't think some of the other stores (dunnes, obriens etc) would be too happy if that were to change. The 3 hours thing is only to deter people parking there all day & heading off to work

Fair enough point Dublander, I've been using the Dunnes and O'Briens there since they opened also. It's a bit of a pain having to validate a ticket each time but a fairly minor inconvenience.

dublander wrote: »

I should mention also though that I had a look in where its supposed to be going & nothing has been done at all. The place is just a shell, I can't see how it's supposed to be open in September!

I'm always amazed at how quickly these things go from building site to spanking new facility in a few weeks. They need to get their finger out however!!

Ben

Zamboni · 10-08-2011 8:21am

Maybe he is moving into the old Total Fitness building in Ticknock?

It's not an area I am massively familiar with so that is a guess.

Hanley · 10-08-2011 8:46am

Zamboni wrote: »

Maybe he is moving into the old Total Fitness building in Ticknock?

It's not an area I am massively familiar with so that is a guess.

Here we go again

Zamboni · 10-08-2011 9:03am

Hanley wrote: »

Here we go again

Have I missed something previously?

mytwocents · 10-08-2011 12:11pm

As has been mentioned the 3 hours free parking has been the way for a good few years now so I don't think that's going to change. I go to the Beacon quite a lot and the only people that have to pay are people that park there for the entire day while they're at work.

Hanley · 10-08-2011 12:23pm

mytwocents wrote: »

As has been mentioned the 3 hours free parking has been the way for a good few years now so I don't think that's going to change. I go to the Beacon quite a lot and the only people that have to pay are people that park there for the entire day while they're at work.

THe consideration you have to give to this is that any Ben Dunne gym attracts A LOT of new members and traffic to an area and during peak times their private car park is almost full. I can't see the local business/Beacon centre management being 100% behind this new influx of cars in Beacon SQ so it is something that may arise.

paddydriver · 12-08-2011 11:43am

Hanley wrote: »

THe consideration you have to give to this is that any Ben Dunne gym attracts A LOT of new members and traffic to an area and during peak times their private car park is almost full. I can't see the local business/Beacon centre management being 100% behind this new influx of cars in Beacon SQ so it is something that may arise.

The car park underneath is very big and there are more level's that most don't even see. FWIW the parking now seems to be reduced to 2 hours FOC -used to be 3. Still, 2 hours should be enough for a good work out:D

This car park was built to accomodate loads of apartments and businesses that just have not materialized. I think the place Ben Dunne is going was originally marked for a Jackie Skelly gym so they have likely anticipated the level of car parking required.

BenEadir · 17-08-2011 12:38pm

Membership going up €15 and start date pushed back 4 months to December and their website is still advertising that they are opening in September with membership available for €180 - not good. Just got this email from them

nxbyveromdwjpg · 01-10-2011 12:25pm

Is it confirmed there won't be squash courts?

What about pool, steam, etc ?

All the mail says is:
Our Facilities will include:
a. Extensive range of Free & Resistance Weights
b. Full range of Cardiovascular equipment including Treadmills, Bikes,
Rowers, Cross-trainers
c. Full Stretching Areas for Warm-Up and Cooling Down

If they are promoting an empty area for stretching, I'm not sure that says they'll have anything beyond the basic gym set up.

rubadub · 01-10-2011 4:07pm

paddydriver wrote: »

This car park was built to accomodate loads of apartments and businesses that just have not materialized.

Yeah, I don't see a lot of business going on around the shops there. Not sure what time you plan on training at. In the mornings or after work sandyford can be quite busy. If you are going later on at night you could probably park in many of the private business carparks nearby, most are not locked up or anything. There are boy racers on my road on fridays, and I have seen lads racing remote control cars in carparks and learner drivers. The place is pretty much empty at the end of the day, and only a 5-10min walk to that gym max.

Duck's hoop · 01-10-2011 4:50pm

rubadub wrote: »

a 5-10min walk to that gym max.

WALK? To the gym?! What ever next?

pinkmonkey045 · 23-11-2011 10:29pm

It's a real pity there's no pool - or it could have been a proper competitor with westwood. I think it's a bit redic that westpoint has a pool and is huge and is 225 a year and beacon has no pool and looks fairly crap [from the pics of the Liverpool gym which it is saying are the same as what it will look like] but is 195 yoyos. If there's no pool, and it's horrendously every evening....i'm out.

I will also be avoiding Dunnes in the beacon when this opens. See ya soon aldi.....!

Hanley · 23-11-2011 10:34pm

pinkmonkey045 wrote: »

It's a real pity there's no pool - or it could have been a proper competitor with westwood. I think it's a bit redic that westpoint has a pool and is huge and is 225 a year and beacon has no pool and looks fairly crap [from the pics of the Liverpool gym which it is saying are the same as what it will look like] but is 195 yoyos. If there's no pool, and it's horrendously every evening....i'm out.

I will also be avoiding Dunnes in the beacon when this opens. See ya soon aldi.....!

In what world is westwood 225 bucks a year?

BenEadir · 23-11-2011 10:42pm

Hanley wrote: »

In what world is westwood 225 bucks a year?

I thought the same but then I read Pinkmonkey's post again and he actually refers to "WEST-POINT" being €225 a year. Is it a typo in which case can Pinkmonkey please explain how you can get Westwood membership for €225 a year or is there another gym called westpoint which is nowhere near Sandyford and is therefore of little use as a reference for most of us considering switching from Westwood to Ben Dunne.

Ben (not Dunne

)

Hanley · 23-11-2011 10:46pm

BenEadir wrote: »

I thought the same but then I read Pinkmonkey's post again and he actually refers to "WEST-POINT" being €225 a year. Is it a typo in which case can Pinkmonkey please explain how you can get Westwood membership for €225 a year or is there another gym called westpoint which is nowhere near Sandyford and is therefore of little use as a reference for most of us considering switching from Westwood to Ben Dunne.

Ben (not Dunne )

WestPOINT is a Ben Dunne gym in Blanchardstown.

WestWOOD is a bloody expensive gym in Sandyford/Leopardstown.

pinkmonkey045 · 23-11-2011 11:00pm

OK calm down everyone!

Let me clarify!!!! Here's what I SHOULD have said to avoid a frenzy...

It's a real pity there's no pool - or it could have been a proper competitor with WestWOOD - [a gym near the beacon which is really great, but pretty pricey. I paid 660 a year. Student price. Sounds bad now compared to ol' Benny prices]

NEW PARAGRAPH JA????

I think it's a bit redic that Ben Dunne's WESTPOINT gym- [which is advertised on the website beside the sandyford ad, among his other gyms] has a POOL and is huge and is €225 a year and beacon has NO POOL and looks fairly crap [from the pics of the Liverpool gym which it is saying are the same as what it will look like] but is 195 yoyos. That ain't much difference in price. I know the rents are different in different places, blah blah whatever.

If there's no pool....i'm out. If you don't mind the pool thing, enjoy it folks!

Also I am not a man.

Peace out.

Hanley · 23-11-2011 11:49pm

pinkmonkey045 wrote: »

OK calm down everyone!

Let me clarify!!!! Here's what I SHOULD have said to avoid a frenzy...

It's a real pity there's no pool - or it could have been a proper competitor with WestWOOD - [a gym near the beacon which is really great, but pretty pricey. I paid 660 a year. Student price. Sounds bad now compared to ol' Benny prices]

NEW PARAGRAPH JA????

I think it's a bit redic that Ben Dunne's WESTPOINT gym- [which is advertised on the website beside the sandyford ad, among his other gyms] has a POOL and is huge and is €225 a year and beacon has NO POOL and looks fairly crap [from the pics of the Liverpool gym which it is saying are the same as what it will look like] but is 195 yoyos. That ain't much difference in price. I know the rents are different in different places, blah blah whatever.

If there's no pool....i'm out. If you don't mind the pool thing, enjoy it folks!

Also I am not a man. Peace out.

What's there to get on this?

A big gym, there years (set up in a pretty undesirable location at the time) is cheaper than a gym in a pretty exclusive development, which probably attracts substantially higher rent costs, lower membership numbers (hence lower turnover) and is situated in a more affluent area.

flywheel · 26-11-2011 8:13am

BenEadir wrote: »

Will there be any classes provided (e.g. spinning®)

Spinning® isn't provided at any Ben Dunne facility

SanoVitae · 26-11-2011 8:49am

Remember folks - if it doesn't have the ® after it, it's just not Spinning......

flywheel · 26-11-2011 8:10pm

SanoVitae wrote: »

Remember folks - if it doesn't have the ® after it, it's just not Spinning......

it's about the instructor and the training provided in the classes... but yeah it's an official trade mark too

Dotcomdolly · 26-11-2011 9:39pm

flywheel wrote: »

Spinning® isn't provided at any Ben Dunne facility

There is spinning in Carlisle, but by outside instructors so you have to pay extra.

flywheel · 27-11-2011 12:00am

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

There is spinning in Carlisle, but by outside instructors so you have to pay extra.

cool that's new, they had indoor cycling before, but interested to see they say they offer Spinning® classes now... thanks for the heads up

must check them out next time i'm back in Dublin

stor11 · 26-04-2012 9:38am

This is a bit of a different post but does anyone know what it is like to work for the Ben Dunne gyms?

Thinking of applying..

The Davestator · 26-04-2012 9:45am

stor11 wrote: »

This is a bit of a different post but does anyone know what it is like to work for the Ben Dunne gyms?

Thinking of applying..

You seem to misunderstand the dynamics of getting a job - the gym decides if you're good enough, not the other way around!!

Ben Dunne Beacon

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