A NUMBER of gym goers have reportedly quit a health club in Taunton after it suddenly informed members it was closing its spa pool to save on energy bills.

Nuffield Health Taunton, in East Reach, wrote to members on Thursday (September 29) to say the measure has been taken to cut back on energy usage.

General manager John Coombs said the closure from Monday (October 3) is "to ensure that we can conserve energy and allow us to keep our swimming pool, sauna and steam room open as we know our members highly value and benefit from these facilities".

He added: "Our fitness and wellbeing centres use a significant amount of energy and like you, we have been faced with considerable rising utilities costs throughout this year.

"Our spa pools are expensive to heat and run and simply switching these off across our nationwide network of centres goes a long way towards reducing our overall energy consumption.

"We're committed to helping you achieve your health and wellbeing goals and we have this front of mind when we're making difficult decisions about how we conserve our energy to keep costs down."

Mr Coombs said Nuffield Health is working hard as it aims to become more energy efficient and hit carbon zero targets.

In a further warning of possible future cutbacks, he added: "As the energy crisis unfolds, we may need to consider other measures, but we will keep you informed."

A member who lives in the county town said fellow Nuffield Health goers had expressed "a lot of concern over the club for a long time" over issues such as broken equipment.

He added: "But on Thursday just gone, all members nationwide received an email saying that the club would be shutting their hydro-pool amid the rise in energy costs giving members just three days' notice, which has angered members considerably as these facilities set the club apart from other Taunton-based gyms.

"I myself have quit due to this amongst many many others. And that is just at Taunton alone."

He accused Nuffield of breaking its own terms and conditions, which state that members will be made aware of any change at least a month prior to them coming into force.

"We had three days," he said.

"Members are being told the same message by Nuffield - 'We're sorry, you can quit or freeze your membership.

"And the club didn't even offer to lower the cost of its monthly membership even though members will have less services."