We’re re-opening on Saturday 25^th July!

Please read below for some changes to our standard conditions of use following guidance and procedures from the ABC (Association of British Climbing Walls) in conjunction with UKActive, based on the government guidance on reopening the leisure sector.  All aspects of this are subject to change.  Certain services/options are currently suspended – we’re working on getting these back up and running as soon as possible; apologies if this impacts you but it’ll be due to complexity of these options not meshing well with our existing systems, or us simply having insufficient time to introduce appropriate controls required by our risk assessments which are required to reduce the risk to our staff and customers.

Please read it so you know what to expect and we look forward to seeing you back soon!

COVID symptoms

If you or anyone you have close contact with have any symptoms of COVID-19 please do not come climbing!  Follow government advice on isolation and social distance until government guidelines say you are safe to resume normal activity.

Suspended services

We have a number of temporarily suspended services; we will start these again as soon as we feel it is appropriate and we have the capacity to do so:

• Coached sessions
  • (including adult inductions and regular group sessions)
• Mini Works Supervisory Inductions
• ‘Family ticket’ entry prices
• No under 5s
• External coaching
• New registrations
  • (including Adult / Under 18 Novice ‘guests’)
• Supervision of Novices where you are unable to do so adhering to social distancing
• Brush sticks
• Borrowing chalk bags
• Pad hire
• Therapy room bookings
• Changing rooms
• Unit E Gym
• GB Team free entry
• Cash at the Mini Works
  • (currently card only with online pre-booking & 50p contactless minimum)

Capacity management

• Currently only registered unsupervised climbers and registered supervised U18s with an accompanying registered adult are allowed to sign in to the centre, no spectators are allowed
• Each building has a limited capacity per building

• Climbing Works – Max 95 climbers
  • Standard entry up to capacity on a first come first served basis (capacity listed on front page of our website so you can check before travelling – try to come off-peak if you can)
  • Please give your name to reception staff as you leave so we can check you out

• Unit E – Max 40 climbing & 4 in gym
  • Peak time (midweek from 5pm and weekends) only
  • Sign in at main reception as normal, then inform staff when you want to go to unit E so we can update our headcounts for each area
    • If you want to climb in the main centre after this you’ll need to queue (if required) at reception again so we can update the main centre capacity (it might be best to finish your session over there!)
  • Return to main reception to sign out as you leave
  • Gym currently closed
• Mini Works – Max 40 customers (includes supervising adults)
  • 1 hour 45 minute time slots, pre booked online only (barring technical issues bookings will go live by 5:00 on 23/07/2020). Supervising adults must book in too & Novices must be supervised by the adult named on the booking as per the standard conditions of use
  • Sign out at end of session
  • Over 5s only (temporarily!)
  • No family ticket option
  • Card payments only
  • Temporary pricing changes 5-17 year old novice Weekend £6.50, Midweek £5.50, U18 shoe hire £1
• Shop – 1 customer at a time
  • Ask staff if you want to enter the shop and you must wear a face covering (if able to do so) and sanitise your hands first
• Recommended session time: 2 hours
  • Due to our limited capacity please try to keep your session time to a minimum, including leaving promptly when you’ve finished; with our currently much reduced capacity longer sessions will impact others’ ability to climb. Remember to inform staff as you leave so we can open up more capacity for other customers
  • If having a drink towards the end of your session please get a take away to help us manage capacity
  • A session is a single entry – you cannot sign out and then come back in later

Social Distancing

• You must maintain a 2m distance from other centre users outside your own household (or household bubble where applicable) at all times
  • If you are concerned that another centre user keeps entering your space please inform a member of staff so they can have a polite word to reiterate social distancing etiquette
  • If an area of the wall is busy, please head to quieter area & come back to it when there is more space
• Adhere to signage around the centres, including distance markers at queuing areas and room capacity notices
• Receptions have safety screen to protect our staff – please don’t try to circumvent them
• Café seating is extremely limited in both centres

Hygiene measures

• Hand hygiene – sanitise or wash your hands:
  • On arrival and leaving the centre
  • Before & after eating or drinking
  • Periodically though-out your session
  • Liquid chalk *might* help, but isn’t a substitute for hand sanitiser or soap
• Face coverings:
  • Preferred (if you are able to do so) at reception & when ordering café items
  • Are mandatory (where customers are able to wear them) in our shop
  • Are welcomed while climbing, particularly at peak times
• Please try to use contactless card payments
• Arrive in your climbing clothes and store your belongings in a locker / cubby hole
• Bring your own water bottle (the water fountain will be out of use)
• Clean signed training equipment before and after use with provided alcohol wipes
• Shop stock and hire items that are returned or tried on will be quarantined for 48 hours or sanitised as appropriate
• Dispose of all waste in the provided bins yourself & return used cups to the collection points at reception
• We have conducted a thorough clean of all 3 centres prior to reopening
• We have scheduled regular cleaning of high contact areas throughout the day
• We have also brought our out of hours cleaning in house to give us a greater degree of control and care over this
• Our centres are well ventilated with numerous windows, and a large extraction system in the main (busiest) centre. Please do not close them!

Track and trace

• As a leisure business we may be required to share occupant details with the government’s track and trace network in the event of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our premises
• This is a legal requirement for us as a business and as such does not require your consent under GDPR (our privacy policy which registering customers agree to includes sharing of data where we are legally required to do so)
• If you are uncomfortable with the idea of your data being shared with track and trace then please do not visit the centre at this time

We're pleased to announce that we'll be reopening on Saturday 25th of July!

Hopefully you've all managed to stay safe and well while we've been in lockdown and sorry that we've been quiet over lock down. Unfortunately as we've been furloughed to safeguard the future of the centre it left us able to do very little without abusing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

Further details of what we're doing to keep our staff and customers as safe as possible on reopening will follow in the coming days, but following the government & ABC (Associated of British Climbing Walls) guidance for leisure facilities it will involve increased hygiene measures, physical distancing measures like screens at our receptions and strict capacity management for different areas most likely:

• Entry up to a capacity of 135 in the main Climbing Works including Unit E - we'll have an online widget looking something like this:

• Bookable timed slots (capacity of 40, including supervisors and any coached groups) at the Mini Works

Our top priority is to reopen our core business, the main Climbing Works, in a safe and welcoming way on Saturday 25th July.  We are also aiming to reopen the Mini Works at the same time if possible, but it may be shortly afterwards due to the added complexities of aligning the required covid-secure capacity management across our 3 separate areas with the new customer entry and management system we introduced in May 2019.  Other parts of the business including our coached sessions will restart soon after this again following the appropriate guidance, for example more experienced coached groups will return before one-off novice sessions.

Looking forward to seeing you all again,

The Climbing Works Team

Wall closure due to COVID 19 (Coronavirus) from 22:00 on 19/03/2020

Some things in life are certain – it will always stop raining at some point, a wet dog will always traipse muddy paw-prints over your new bouldering mat, and the Climbing Works is always open 362 days of the year (apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Day).  This is how life for us has been since we first opened in 2006.

Now we have a new challenge in the coronavirus – it is our social responsibility to close now and remain shut as long as advised to do so by the Government. We don’t know how long this closure will last for – publishing a reopening date at this stage seems a bit presumptuous, so stay tuned to our website / social media for updates on when we might re-open.

We are a small business, started by climbers, for climbers. Our innovation and gamble back in 2006 spawned the modern generation of big bouldering centres which can now be found across the globe. This closure has far reaching ramifications for all of our staff and customers, and we hope that any disruption will be short and our business will be able to reopen in the near future.

Any members with a pre-paid membership or pre-paid entries – your membership will be paused from the closure date until we reopen.  Further details about memberships including those paid by standing order will be added to the website as soon as we can write it all down, along with some suggested ways you might be able to help support us in this difficult time for those able to do so.

In the meanwhile, please look after yourselves and anybody who needs help. Be kind to one another, don’t panic buy useless stuff, be considerate, and we’ll see you all on the other side!

Graeme, Percy, Sam & the rest of the Climbing Works Team

FAQs & options to help support us

What happens with my pre-paid membership?
As previously stated we're freezing all pre-paid memberships until we are advised we can safely reopen.

I have a pre-paid membership; what can I do to help?
Thanks for your support!  Either you can let us know you don't want to pause, which will be helpful for our cash flow when we are able to reopen, or you could buy something from our online shop.

How do I pause my monthly membership payments?
We understand that this time is difficult for everyone.  If you are paying by standing order so you need to understand that YOU need to pause the payments with you bank; we can't do it for you!  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account.

How do I continue to pay my membership?
If you are in a sufficiently stable financial position to do so and would like to continue your standing order even though you can't climb then that would be greatly appreciated.  You have set up a standing order with you bank, so you don't need to do anything for it to continue.  It is, however, important that you understand that at this time we do not know when (and therefore if) we will be able to reopen.  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account.

I don't think I can afford / justify the full monthly amount while you are closed but I still want to support you; what can I do?
Thanks for your support!  If you want to keep up regular payments at a lower amount then you just need to adjust your standing order with the bank.  It is, however, important that you understand that at this time we do not know when (and therefore if) we will be able to reopen.  Please drop us an email to memberships@climbingworks.com to confirm that you are doing this and include your name and DoB so we can link it to your account. 

How else can I support the centre?
For anyone else who would like to support us in some way you can find options for pre-paid membership, entries and gift voucher here.  The rest of the online store selling physical items is currently offline as we stay home to help the NHS, but once it's appropriate for us to do so we'll put it back online; we'll also run an offer with 25% off online Benky Grip Wash orders, aimed at other walls who are getting on with maintenance while they are still closed to the public.

Can I hire pads to climb outside?
Unfortunately we won't be offering pad hire at this time.  We feel that we have a societal responsibility to limit any further strain on the NHS, so as climbing is an activity with a risk of injury and with rural areas having a higher proportion of more vulnerable age groups, our view is that an influx of climbers with more free time into these areas is counter productive to the current social distancing recommendations, which falls in line with the guidance in many other popular climbing areas in Europe.

The Climbing Works Entry Policy Due to Coronavirus (Updated 17/03/20)

The Climbing Works takes the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff very seriously, and we consider ourselves to be a socially responsible company. Due to the current ongoing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) we are constantly looking at the most up to date Government advice and adapting our company policies to fit with current best practice.

In light of the most recent advice (16/03/2020) we currently have the following restrictions in place:

The Mini Works is currently closed & all coached sessions are postponed:

Following government advice on social distancing we want to protect both our staff and customers, and we identified coached sessions as one of the most difficult areas to control this in. Without the regular coached sessions, the reception staff in Mini Works are better utilized doing additional cleaning in the main center.

The Climbing Works & Unit E are currently open as normal with the following restrictions:

YOU MUST NOT COME TO THE CLIMBING WORKS IF:

• You feel unwell, have a persistent cough or a high temperature
• You are currently self-isolating
• You are over 70 years of age, or suffer from any medical condition which puts you in a group considered to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 virus, or if you have regular close contact with individuals in this group. Details of vulnerable groups can be found on the government website – www.gov.uk/coronavirus/

Measures we are taking:

• We will monitor and limit climber numbers within each building below a total occupancy level of 100 people in the Climbing Works & 50 in Unit E
• Our staff and our cleaners have increased the frequency at which they clean high use surfaces

The situation regarding coronavirus is changing almost daily, and we are committed to work within the framework of best advice provided by the government to protect our staff and customers.

Currently, we are happy for climbers to use our facilities if they are well, and do not fall in restricted groups mentioned above.  However, we stress to any users of our facilities to practice good hygiene as outlined in the posters at our front desk and around the wall.

We will update this information as and when the situation changes.

Many thanks,

The Climbing Works Team

The Climbing Works Entry Policy Due to Coronavirus

The Climbing Works takes the health and wellbeing of our customers and staff very seriously, and we consider ourselves to be a socially responsible company. Due to the current ongoing situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) we are constantly looking at the most up to date Government advice and adapting our company policy to fit with current best practice.

In light of the most recent advice (16/03/2020) we currently have the following restrictions in place:

The Climbing Works is open as normal.

HOWEVER, YOU MUST NOT COME TO THE CLIMBING WORKS IF:

• You feel unwell, have a persistent cough or a high temperature

• You are currently self-isolating

• You are over 70 years of age, or suffer from any medical condition which puts you in a group considered to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 virus, or if you have regular close contact with individuals in this group. Details of vulnerable groups can be found on the government website – www.gov.uk/coronavirus/

As an additional measure, we will monitor and limit climber numbers within each building (Main Works, Mini Works and Unit E) below an occupancy level of 100 people.  Both our staff and our cleaners have increased the frequency at which they clean high use surfaces.

The situation regarding coronavirus is changing almost daily, and we are committed to work within the framework of best advice provided by the government to best protect our staff and customers.

Currently, we are happy for climbers to use our facilities if they are well, and do not fall in restricted groups mentioned above.  However, we stress to any users of our facilities to practice good hygiene practice as outlined in the posters at our front desk and around the wall.

We will update this information as and when the situation changes.

Many thanks,

The Climbing Works Team

As well as being a busy climbing wall used by locals and climbers from further afield we also run a variety of events, from local festivals to international climbing competitions.

At present, all of our organised events are going ahead as planned, and we are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

For detailed information about Coronavirus, visit the Gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

The government has also published an action plan. This advises that there's presently no rationale to close or cancel sporting events, but this may change as the situation evolves.

Planning on climbing here or attending an event?

• We encourage all our customers & attendees to maintain good personal, hand and respiratory hygiene by following the NHS guidelines on the Coronavirus overview page: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

• If you’ve travelled from other countries outside of the UK. please follow the guidance under the section entitled “Returning travellers” on the Gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

• If you’ve had contact with infected people, please do not visit the centre following the standard guidance on self isolation

• Anyone with flu-like symptoms should avoid the risk of spreading their infection, whatever that infection may be, by staying at home and recovering

Pre-Paid Members

• If you are advised to self isolate please let us know and we'll add the period on to the end of your membership.

The scores are in for the first round of our CAC Bouldering Series!

Well done to everyone who entered; between you you raised an excellent £142 for CAC!  Prize winners from the raffle are highlighted in bright yellow and you can pick your prizes up on your next visit.

Look out for the next set coming at the start of January.

On Thursday 29th August, we hosted our 9th Young Climbers Festival. The day was split up into a morning and an afternoon session. In the morning we saw over 60 9-14 year olds competing for a spot on the podium, and in the afternoon there was just under 50 5-8 year olds. This was the most popular year yet, with spaces booking up before registration had even closed. Despite the number of children filling the centres, the atmosphere remained calm and the support between competitors in their individual groups was amazing to see.

With an early start of 8am, the 9-14 year olds were revved up by our coaches and joined in a big group warm up. The warm up set the tone for the day, with an emphasis on fun, as 60+ participants dressed in blue, chased the coaches around The Climbing Works. Climbers were then split into smaller groups of 4-6 and allocated a coach for the session. There were 20 pink problems to try and 2 hours 15 minutes to get round them. The route setters did a fantastic job of creating a selection of different styles including the usual off pieste favourites, with a bold jumping one and two entertaining swinging problems.

When time was up, the coaches had a short amount of time to add their teams scores up before the final. The top 5 male and female competitors for the morning sessions earned a spot in our CWIF style final. The competitors had 4 minutes on each of the three problems, with 4 minutes rest in between each bloc. The audience provided some fantastic support for all of the climbers as they battled their way up some extremely tricky problems. In the end there could only be one winner, and after a tough final, we saw Joe take the win for the boys, and Fae for the girls.

After the finals, was the much anticipated presentation, where the individual team results were announced. Everyone who attended received a participation medal, a prize and a certificate for their performance. These certificates included, team motivator, biggest smile, biggest wipeout, funky beta, dedicated climber, most improved, inspirational performance and stylish technique. Then within each age catergory, we had a podium with more medals and some fantastic prizes donated by our sponsors.

After a quick turn around it was over to The Mini Climbing works for the afternoon session. The excited 5-8 year olds again joined in a big group warm up and were then split into smaller groups with a designated coach. This time the 5-6 year olds had 10 problems, and the 7-8 had 12, with an hour and a half to try as many as they could. The blocs were tricky and the competitors tried extremely hard to get as many points as they could. For a lot of
these children, it was their first ever climbing competition and we saw some amazing determination from them all. We even saw the introduction of our Monkey space for one of the problems and enjoyed watching the climbers swinging around on it.

When the time was up, the coaches gathered in score cards and again allocated spot prizes to each competitor. Each age category had a presentation with there individual awards and prizes, followed by the podium. The mini works was filled with cheers from parents, coaches and the rest of the competitors as each climber stepped up to receive their award.

All in all, the event was a massive success and there were smiles all round. The competition is a favourite among staff, young climbers and parents. It is brilliant to see the on-going support we get for this event from parents and are fantastic sponsors, as without them it wouldn’t be possible. A huge thanks to parents, climbers, our coaches, our setters, Emma Wood for her fantastic graphic design work, Dom Worrall for the photography and of course our sponsors who provided all the amazing prizes.

(Big thanks to Scarpa, Rock Tots, The North Face, Beta Climbing, Core and Decathlon)

Male and Female Finalists 2019

Male and Female 13-14 Yrs

Male and Female 11-12 Yrs

Male and Female 9-10 Yrs

Male and Female 7-8 Yrs

Male and Female 5-6 Yrs

Written by Ruth Harrington

We'll need all of our existing customers (who registered on a paper registration form before the 15/04/2019) to register on our new sign in system from this Monday, May 13th.

Many of our existing registered customers have already done this over the past few weeks, but if you haven't already done so please fill out your forms in advance to save time on your next visit here:

Once you have completed a form online or on a tablet at reception please talk to a member of staff to complete your account set up. If you completed a form online please check your emails (including spam / junk folders) as you need to click a link in the confirmation email to confirm the registration.

Supervised Guests - Novices & ALL Under 14s

Novices & under 14s supervised by Adult Climbers & Adult Supervisors will now need their own account to use the centre from Monday 13th May onwards.

Adult Novices can complete their form here:

Under 18 Novices & all Under 14s should have a form completed by their parent / legal guardian here:

More details about the changes can be found here.

Climbing Works Customer Re-Registration

We’re currently switching to a new entry system.  This will allow us to reduce our reliance on paper forms, will add customer photos to accounts to reduce misuse of accounts and will enable customers with full memberships and pre-paid entries to use a quick check in at the main reception to reduce queuing at busier times.

We’ll require all of our existing customers to register onto the new system, to ensure that we have all of your details up to date.  We are currently using the existing database to process new entries up until 13/05/2019, at which point we will be recording entries on our new system.

To register on the new system please fill out a digital registration form either on a tablet at reception, or online via our website here (using PC, smartphone or tablet), then talk to a member of staff on your next visit so we can transfer that information to your new account. If you climb here regularly please do this at a quiet time on your next visit to reduce queuing, as ALL customers will have to do this on their first visit from the 13/05/2019.

Pre-Paid Full Memberships and Entries

If you have an existing full membership (month, 3-month or annual) or pre-paid entries (a 12 for 10) then we will be able to transfer these over to your new account on your 1^st visit after the 13/05/2019.

We’ll be introducing a quick check in for Adult & Junior Climbers with Full Memberships & Pre-Paid Entries.

Customers supervising Novices will still need to talk with our staff on each visit as you’ll need to add your names to a Daily Novice Supervision sheet.

Changes of terminology

Some of the terminology that we use to describe our customers is changing; the term Member will now only refer to registered customers with pre-paid month, 3 month or annual Full Membership.

• Adult Climber (or Adult Unsupervised Climber)
  • Able to climb without supervision in the Climbing Works, Mini Works & Unit E.
  • Can sign in and supervise up to 2 Adult or Under 18 Novices (or 1 Under 5 Novice at weekends and during school holidays) in the Climbing Works and the Mini Works.
• Junior Climber (or Junior (14-17) Unsupervised Climber)
  • Able to climb in Climbing Works and Mini Works without supervision.
  • Can climb in Unit E with the additional specific consent of their parent / guardian when accompanied by another Junior Climber or Adult Climber.
  • Cannot supervise Novices.
• Adult Supervisor (or Adult Mini Works Supervisor)
  • Can sign in and supervise up to 2 Under 18 Novices (or 1 Under 5 Novice at weekends and during school holidays) in the Mini Works.
  • Would need to be signed in by an Adult Climber if they want to climb themselves.
• Adult Novice
  • Can climb under the supervision of an Adult Climber in the Climbing Works and the Mini Works.
• Under 18 Novice
  • Can climb under the supervision of an Adult Climber in the Climbing Works and Mini Works, or an Adult Supervisor in the Mini Works.

Unit E Access for Junior Climbers

Junior Climbers (14-17 year olds registered to climb without supervision) will be permitted access the climbing area, but not the gym / training room, of Unit E from 13/05/2019 on completion of a ‘Junior Climber – Unit E Consent’ form by their parent or guardian where they agree that they and the Junior Climber understand the additional risks involved with climbing over there.

Novices

Novices will need to fill out a digital registration form (on the tablets at our receptions or online through our website on a PC, smartphone or tablet), then talk to a member of staff to be added onto the entry system.  They’ll then report to reception with their supervising adult on each visit to be checked in and get signed in on the Daily Novice Supervision sheet.

Registration Fees

• New Adult Climbers or Junior Climbers - £3
• Existing Adult Climbers or Junior Climbers - FREE
• Adult Supervisors - Included in induction fee
• Adult Novice or Under 18 Novice - FREE

We will be operating extended opening hours over Easter weekend as follows:

Good Friday (19/04):

Main Centre: 10am - 10pm

Mini-Works: 10am - 8pm

Easter Saturday & Sunday (20/04-21/04):

Main Centre: 10am - 8pm

Mini-Works: 9.30am - 6pm

Easter Monday (22/04):

Main Centre: 10am - 10pm

Mini-Works: 10am - 8pm

Our entry prices will stay the same so you can get off-peak / midweek entry options as normal on Friday & Monday.

Enjoy!