Better Leisure Centres plan to mandate a single music app for all group exercise classes.

This will reduce the quality of ALL classes — including spinning, body conditioning, Pilates, yoga, and more.

Music is central to pacing, energy, rhythm and motivation in group exercise. The mandated app restricts instructors to a narrow, generic playlist library that excludes many of the music styles instructors currently use — styles that reflect the cultural, musical and demographic diversity of individual centres and the communities they serve.

This one‑size‑fits‑all approach removes instructors’ ability to choose music that fits the style, intensity and identity of their classes, resulting in sessions that feel less engaging and less inclusive for everyone.

At Fulwood, this decision will have an especially damaging impact on members who attend Stephen Daley’s spin classes. Steve is a highly respected, extremely popular instructor whose sessions are regularly oversubscribed. His classes have built a welcoming, supportive community, and many members maintain their memberships specifically because of instructors like him.

Steve has made it clear he cannot deliver safe, authentic, music‑driven spin sessions using the mandated app and will stop teaching if it is enforced. He has already offered a fully compliant, cost‑neutral solution by purchasing his own licence — yet Better has given no positive response.

With a much‑reduced post‑COVID timetable, limited class variety, rising membership fees, a new spin studio many feel is unsuitable, and little meaningful consultation, this new policy is a step too far for many members. Numerous members have said they will cancel their memberships if Steve stops teaching — a loss in revenue that could outweigh the cost of allowing licence flexibility.

These decisions are eroding the quality and value of our local leisure centre experience.

We call on Better Leisure to:

• Pause enforcement of the mandatory music app
• Engage in open consultation with members and instructors
• Allow flexible, compliant music solutions — including personal licences — that uphold class quality
• Protect the instructors and communities that make Better Leisure Centres worth attending

We want a centre that listens to its members and preserves the high‑quality classes we value.

Please sign to support our instructors and safeguard the future of our community.