Westway Climbing

Reality fun with classes that are only £90 a month. Westway is one of if not the best Climbing center within the area. Would suggest to anyone who either loves Climbing or wants to learn how to.

Nice staff and cool walls! Limited and not so interesting routes for top ropers. Was just visiting the city so didn't bring my rope along. Was unable to rent a rope to experience the cool (looking) lead wall in the back. Next time!

Very very cold if you go there for bouldering during the winter which could lead to potential injuries if you're not properly warmed up. The matt was not the safest either and some of the grips didn't seem to work well. I injured my right elbow and right ankle there when my right foot slipped. Not the most pleasant bouldering gym experience although the staff was friendly.

Seems like a quality gym, but I was disappointed by the unhelpful staff/policies. I definitely wanted to boulder but wasn't sure if I wanted to use the auto belays when I was signing in. When they asked if I wanted to use the autos, I said I was just going to boulder first. Later I decided I wanted to use the auto belays so went back to the desk to ask about this. They told me that I had to do the safety check right at the start of the visit and now it wasn't possible. I wish they had mentioned this before or made an exception as it was a weekday morning and the reception was completely empty.

Westway is a good climbing wall. As a physical venue it is one of the best in London. It is big, wheelchair accessible and not a labyrinth, the walls are tall, has lots of lines, the setting is pretty good. Obviously better for rope than bouldering but there are plenty of other options for the latter,Unfortunately it isn't a good climbing *centre* in terms of the management side. The registration process is archaic. Every other wall I can think of has an online waiver, but not Westway. Instead they have a paper registration form which will then be typed into an antique computer system. Also, if you take a belay test, prepare! And prepare to take it again because they'll lose the record of you taking it.The wall bans shirtless climbing. Whilst I tend not to do this anyway, it is basically a way of the wall trying to blame its apparent lack of inclusivity on its regular customers, rather than the attitude of the wall's staff and management, or its lack of ability to market itself towards people who don't already climb there. I know of the staff being unpleasant towards people who do external coaching elsewhere but who climb socially at Westway.The changing rooms / toilets usually have something going wrong. For several months there was no hot water.There is no cafe due to the previous franchisee having wider financial difficulties, which isn't a deal breaker if you know about it in advance! But if you wanted to, say, host a competition, you'd probably consider another wall for this reason. Also, the shop is adequate but mediocre compared to say, The Castle.Overall Westway is OK but is about as 'cool' as the BBC and soulless as Sports Direct.

Nice setting on the lead walls, refreshing change from the castle climbing centre. Seemed to have relatively little bouldering facility but the lead made up for it in spades. Very friendly and helpful staff.Cold though

Funnily I came to write a review only to find Chris Waller's review from 2 weeks ago basically said what I wanted to: great wall, horrible admin. We arrived with an hour to climb before my partner had to leave. She got to do one climb because the forms+test took over 45min. They didn't have enough forms, they printed new ones, the new ones didn't print properly. I'm really not blaming the desk staff here - the system is just terrible. I don't think I've been to another gym for the last decade that has been using paper forms rather than an online system where you can either do it in advance, on your phone at the desk, or on a tablet at the venue.

If you want to get into or try rope climbing. This is a good gym to give a try, with a few auto belay, top rope and lead walls.What I would say tough is that the two former are limited in terms of grading, which I can understand. But also it would be nice to have some harder routes if you don't want to invest in a rope and learn to do lead.

my 'local' great gym if you are into ropes but there is also very decent bouldering section. At the beginning of the year they have amazing price promotion on the yearly pass, works cheaper than just 3 pay as you go visit p/month. Bargain!