Backlash over £120 member fee for new women-only gym

Empowerment at a price? Fitness influencer Natalee Barnett’s new women-only gym, The Girls Spot, faces online scrutiny.

Image courtesy of @thegirlspotgym Instagram page

The announcement of The Girls Spot, a new women-only gym set to open in Wandsworth, has sparked public online debate after the founder, Natalee Barnett, revealed its £120 monthly membership fee.

With over 30,000 people on its waiting list, the gym promises a safe and comfortable space “built by women, for women” and has gained huge traction online. It offers classes from Pilates to boxing, alongside unique services like in-house osteopathy and fertility acupuncture, but the public questions whether this is enough for its members’ fee.

With men making up 54% of gym and fitness club members, according to Statista, many women have long sought out safer, more inclusive workout spaces. Founder and fitness influencer, Natalee Barnett, known as @nataleebarnett_ on social media, designed The Girl Spot to cater specifically to women who may feel unsafe in traditional gym environments. However, the £120 member price tag has raised questions about affordability and whether it represents an example of ‘pink tax’ – the tendency for women’s products and services to be more expensive purely due to them being aimed at women.

One reason for the public’s dissatisfaction with the gym’s premium price point is the gym’s lack of extra amenities. Miriam Onen, a London-based marketing manager, recently shared her reaction to the gym in a TikTok video. She told Shift, “I don’t think it is worth it because it does not have luxurious amenities such as a sauna, steam room, cold plunge or swimming pool.” The gym also has limited equipment, with only two treadmills available.

Image courtesy of @thegirlspotgym Instagram page

Onen added that the women-only aspect alone isn’t enough to justify the price point. “It feels like I’d be paying a premium just to be in a single-sex space with pink walls”, she said, emphasising the lack of luxurious features found in other high-end gyms like Third Space, David Lloyd, or Gymbox.

She also questioned the branding. “Pink feels infantilising and a bit lazy in my opinion”, she said. “There are so many female-only gyms in and around London already. It’s not a new concept. What matters most is affordability and location. That’s why The Gym Group and PureGym are successful.”

Shift also spoke with Venla Rajantie, a regular gym goer and fitness enthusiast. Rajantie echoed similar concerns: “£120 is quite a lot of money for  what it is”, and she also pointed to the contradiction in the gym’s messaging. “I think because she [Barnett] said it was meant to be inclusive to all women, maybe she shouldn’t have said that, because it’s not really inclusive when it costs £120.”

On the contrary, influencer Adeola Patronne on her podcast with Mariam Musa, ‘Deep It’, said “if it were by my house, I probably would go”, expressing that founder Barnett is a start-up business owner and people who cannot afford it have various other cheaper options to attend instead. She feels the outrage is unjustified.

The Girl Spot’s backlash highlights a growing conversation around accessibility and the monetisation of “safe spaces” for women. While influencer-backed fitness ventures often generate hype, 46% of gym members say they’ve bought products because celebrities endorsed them, according to Statista. The Girls Spot has faced unusually sharp and harsh public scrutiny.

Whether The Girls Spot adjusts its pricing or amenities in response to the public’s furore remains unclear. But for now, what was intended as an empowering space for women has become a flashpoint for debates about elitism, marketing, and the true meaning of inclusivity.

• Founder Natalee Barnett was contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.