Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club

I joined this Club three years ago and have loved it from the beginning. There is such a friendly atmosphere amongst members and staff. At times the convivial ambience of the clubhouse makes me forget that we are there to play sports and keep fit! The recent squash ‘super league’ tournament was a great spectacle (photo belo) and a reminder of the quality of play which we are privileged to enjoy.

Good place, there can play tennis and other activities

I’ve been a naughty boy, apparently… I’ve been a member of this ‘club’ (it’s actually a business) for 25 years. The tennis, squash and padel courts are awesome – top quality – playing on them is fantastic. Steve’s review below, I believe, is partially accurate where he states the club is ‘elitist and pretentious’ (I’d also add cliquey); however, it is unfair to label all the members as such, the vast majority of staff and members are thoroughly decent people – it’s the current crop of leadership and management that, I believe, have developed a concerning authoritarian bias that is creeping into the culture of the club - they appear to have lost sight of the club’s values (see my example, last paragraph below). Like most people, I think, we crave first-class leadership – it just makes life easier, more fun. As a well-known leadership coach once said: “Most leaders think their organisation is values-based. They think everyone knows, supports, and lives them every day. This assumption creates most of their problems. Don’t think so? Ask your team to list your organisation’s core values by memory. If they can’t, I would ‘bet the farm’, most of your leadership challenges are value-related issues”. I would ‘bet the farm’ the management and leadership of CRAFC are unable to recite them either – just a laminated poster on the reception wall, looking impressive, gathering dust. The club’s reply to Steve where it states: “We aim to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for all players”, is not my personal (or my wife’s) experience – don’t believe it, I would say the statement is wholly inaccurate – it’s just been written to look good on Google. My experience of authoritarian culture at the club. The board, in July 2024, changed the parking rules whereby full-subscription members no longer have 24/7 access to the club’s car park (now just 4 hours per day). On occasion, it was difficult to find a parking space in the car park, which is clearly frustrating if you’ve booked a court. However, instead of phasing in a reasonable solution to enable members to make other arrangements, the chairman gave just one month’s notice to everyone – and offered no reduction in membership fee for loss of facility (which isn’t cheap at £65 per month). The chair’s response to me: “if you don’t like it, you can leave” aside from the obvious charm, many would say this was fair enough; however, his comments do not match the club’s values. On top of that, a new ‘rule’ was introduced whereby a ‘fine’ “may be imposed” for parking infringements: non-payment means your membership is suspended. Even a first year GCSE law student will realise the obvious breach of consumer regs. there. “Instead of moaning on social media, why don’t you complain to the club; or just leave”, I hear you say. Good point: because I care more about the club than I care about the management and leadership. The club’s complaints procedure is a farce, laughable even. Making a complaint against the management or leadership is a road to nowhere: you’re white-washed, or, as I have found, simply ignored. The complaints procedure starts and ends with the manager’s opinion – no ombudsman; no ADR; no local LTA; and no facility to escalate an issue to the national LTA, despite the complaints policy implying you can (I know, I tried). Remember I said ‘cliquey’? See the attached photos. One is of the note about me on the club’s CRM system, it reads: “Gary has been issued a parking fine and [membership] card has been disabled. We can reactive card once paid, but no verbal/written correspondence to be entered into – all matters to go through [manager’s name] solicitors, of which he has the details”. Charming… but they still take my membership fee. The second image is a letter from their solicitor informing me I have £10 to pay. The club’s manager instructed a solicitor at £350 per hour of membership money to issue a £10 ‘fine’. Almost unbelievable; however, I refer you back to the values paragraph above… Result: multiple counts of litigation against the club are now in process.