A Potters Bar gym goer has mounted an advertising campaign to get his fitness centre to clean its changing facilities, which are ‘dirtier than a dog kennel’.

Business owner Shane McEvoy first noticed the poor condition in some rooms of the Furzefield leisure centre 18 months ago and hoped the mess would be sorted out quickly.

Having logged his complaints with Hertsmere Fitness, who run the leisure centre, he was informed the centre was aware of the rooms’ condition and would be working to rectify it.

He also spoke to his local councillor Brenda Batten, who represents Bushey Heath, who said she would look into his complaints.

Despite promises from the centre the dirt would be sorted by February, the situation has not yet been sorted in October, according to Mr McEvoy.

He said: “I use the gym and pool facilities regularly as Furzefield is my local gym and my family often uses it too – while I could afford to take my custom elsewhere, there are many people who cannot.

“They should not be forced to settle for the sub-par conditions staff’s neglect has led to at the centre.

“You can smell the filth in the toilets from over five metres away, which is simply not good enough for a community facility.

“I used to volunteer for the RSPCA and I can honestly say the dog kennels I used to clean out were less filthy than the changing facilities at the centre.”

Mr McEvoy, who owns internet marketing company Flycast Media, started a Facebook page to publish photographs of the facilities and has gained over 1,200 ‘likes’ in support of his concerns.

He felt the situation was dire enough to fork out Facebook’s $18 fee to ‘boost’ his page and get the story to a wider audience.

According to Hertsmere Fitness, the Furzefield centre has a daily cleaning programme in place, with top up cleaning activity throughout the day and undertakes further additional deep cleaning when required.

However, as with any facility with a high volume of users which has been established for more than 30 years, over time they said areas of the facility need to be updated.

Head of marketing and communication Eleanor Hudson said: “As a charitable trust, Hertsmere Leisure, are dedicated to improving the standard of cleaning.

“We are also working to improve the standard of the facilities and overall customer experience in line with today’s customer expectations and have plans in place to undertake renovations in the near future.

“Furzefield is a much used, well-loved facility at the heart of the local community, providing invaluable services that change people’s lives.

“We welcome feedback from our customers and where issues are raised customers are invited to meet with the management team at a convenient time, to discuss concerns and enable us to provide an overview of our actions and future plans.”

Have you had a bad hygeine experience at this or any other gym? Let us know in the comments.