Indoor Cycling in the City: 1Rebel Leadenhall Ride Classes

1Rebel Leadenhall sits at 52 Lime Street, London EC3A 3BP, at the foot of the angular glass tower Londoners call the Scalpel, and first-timers can buy five sessions for £59, or £11.80 a class. It is one of only four of 1Rebel's 13 London clubs that run Ride, its 45-minute take on spin, so anyone in the Square Mile searching indoor cycling near me can be on a bike within a few minutes of Bank, Monument or Liverpool Street.

1Rebel was founded in London in 2015 and now runs 13 clubs across the city, but Ride is only on the timetable at Leadenhall, Victoria, St John's Wood and High Street Kensington. Its slogan, printed across the Ride page, is we don't spin, we ride, and the pitch is a party on a bike: a darkened studio, nightclub-style lighting, a large sound system and a room that rides together.

The format leans more toward strength than many rhythm rides. Each 45-minute class mixes high-intensity climbs and sprints with weighted sequences, and a dedicated arms track brings dumbbells into play while you keep pedalling. It is described as low impact and suitable for every fitness level, which is accurate for your knees but not for your shoulders the next morning.

New riders get a proper briefing. 1Rebel asks you to arrive 15 minutes early for your first session so the instructor can walk you through bike setup, the key moves and what to expect, and staff are on hand to help you clip in. Ride shoes with cleats are provided free of charge, so there is nothing to buy before you start.

If you are coming straight from a desk on Leadenhall Street or in the Lloyd's building opposite, this is the slot to plan around. The briefing is the difference between spending the first two songs fighting the cleats and actually riding, and it is easy to lose those 15 minutes to a lift queue in a City tower if you leave the office at the last moment.

The Leadenhall club page promises nightclub-level lighting, expert trainers and luxury changing rooms, with the idea that you simply book and turn up. Under the same roof, 52 Lime Street also runs Reshape, 1Rebel's treadmill-and-weights interval class, Reformer Rhythm Pilates set to house music, and Reset, a recovery session that pairs a sauna with a cold plunge.

That mix makes Leadenhall a good place to build a full week rather than a single habit. A Ride on Tuesday, Reshape on Thursday and a Reset session on Friday afternoon is the kind of rotation the club is built for. The building itself, a sharply tapering KPF-designed tower completed in 2018, gives the gym one of the more striking front doors in the City.

The New to 1Rebel package is five sessions for £59, works out at £11.80 each and expires 14 days after purchase, not after your first class. It is for first-timers only, cannot be shared, and can be used at any 1Rebel location, so you could mix a Leadenhall Ride with a Reshape near home. Plan the five dates the day you buy it.

Regulars at this club can take Leadenhall Unlimited, a six-month membership at £199 a month that gives 31 sessions a month plus one guest credit, valid only at Leadenhall. After six months it rolls on monthly. Skip it unless you will train here at least three times a week; at fewer sessions, packages used across clubs are better value.

1Rebel runs both a waitlist and standby spots for full sessions. If you are still on the list an hour before an evening class, stop waiting and book an alternative: switch to Reshape or Reformer Rhythm in the same building, or take the Circle or District line to Victoria, where 5 Allington Street is the other central club with Ride.

Special event rides are worth watching for. The events calendar has featured themed classes such as a Hamilton Ride, Shut Up and Ride built around Rihanna, and a Black History Ride. They are one-off dates rather than weekly fixtures, so book as soon as one appears instead of hoping for a standby spot on the night.

Walk two minutes west and you are under the painted iron and glass roof of Leadenhall Market, the covered Victorian market designed by Horace Jones, with pubs and lunch counters along its cobbled lanes. It is busiest at weekday lunchtime and almost empty at weekends, when the City quietens down and the Saturday morning streets are calm enough to cool down on foot.

For a view after class, the Garden at 120 on Fenchurch Street is a free rooftop garden with planting and wide views over the Tower of London and the Thames, a few minutes' walk south. Heading north, the Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe and the medieval church of St Andrew Undershaft are a short loop that brings you back to Lime Street.

Leadenhall is one of the clubs with Reset, 1Rebel's 45-minute recovery session. You move between the heat of the saunas, which the club says boosts circulation and aids muscle repair, and an ice-cold plunge meant to reduce inflammation and sharpen focus. Booking a Reset straight after a Ride turns a lunchtime workout into an hour and a half, so it suits Friday afternoons better than a rushed Tuesday.

Reset is booked like any other session, with its own waitlist, and 1Rebel publishes separate guidance on preparing for it and on attending with an injury or during pregnancy. If you have never used a cold plunge, start with short dips and let the team know it is your first time. The club describes its changing rooms as luxury, so you can head back to the office straight afterwards.

Address: 52 Lime Street, London EC3A 3BP. Email: leadenhall@1rebel.com. Nearest stations: Bank, Monument, Aldgate East and Liverpool Street. Workouts here: Ride, Reshape, Reformer Rhythm and Reset. Ride classes are 45 minutes with free cycling shoes. New riders: five sessions for £59 with a 14-day expiry. Booking is through the 1Rebel website or app.