Kickboxing Gym Near Me in Holborn: Gymbox's Car Park Fight Floor

Gymbox Holborn sits underneath 100 High Holborn, London WC1V 6RD, just over the road from Holborn Tube, and its centrepiece is a full-size boxing ring built in 2003 for self-defence and kickboxing classes. Membership starts at £82 a month on a 12-month contract, and the club opens from 6am to 11pm on weekdays. If you are searching for a kickboxing gym near me from an office in Midtown or Covent Garden, this is the closest place to throw a roundhouse kick before the 8am stand-up.

Richard Hilton launched the first Gymbox here in 2003, pitching high-energy workouts in a nightclub setting with live music. Gymbox's own story says the brand was born in a car park in the heart of the West End, and that is literal: Ben Kelly Design, the studio behind the Haçienda nightclub interior, turned a former underground car park into the blueprint for every Gymbox that followed, keeping the raw concrete structure as a stage set.

BKD's project notes describe railway sleepers used for the reception desk, glazed tiles leading the way to the changing rooms, and the full-sized boxing ring as the visual centrepiece, set aside for self-defence and kickboxing classes. Hilton built the brand to ten sites and more than 30,000 members over twelve years before selling most of his stake, but Holborn is still billed as the original. The concrete pillars around the ring are part of the experience, not a renovation waiting to happen.

Be clear about one thing before you join: the current Gymbox class list does not include a session called kickboxing. The fight category lists Muay Thai Rookie, Muay Thai, Muay Thai and Sparring, Boxing Rookie, Boxing, Boxing and Sparring, Counterpunch, MMA, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in both Gi and No-Gi versions. For most people who want to learn to kick, Muay Thai Rookie is the obvious first booking, since it is the beginner-level version of the kicking class and sits ahead of the sparring sessions in the progression.

Holborn's own FAQ says the club has a boxing ring alongside a full fight class timetable and a dedicated matted combat area for boxing and combat training. That matted area is where you can drill kicks on a bag or with a partner outside class times, which matters if you already have a kickboxing background and just want somewhere central to keep sharp. Classes sit alongside spin, yoga and dance conditioning, so a single membership covers far more than fighting.

According to Gymbox's Holborn page, membership costs £82 a month on a 12-month contract with a £10 joining fee, £102 a month on a 3-month commitment, or £112 a month on a rolling monthly contract with a £30 joining fee. Every plan includes five guest passes, which is useful if a training partner wants to try a Muay Thai class with you before signing up themselves.

There is no published day pass. The way in is the free trial: you book an all-access tour with the sales team through gymbox.com, and that tour is when to ask which fight classes fall on the evenings you can actually make. Personal trainers work on site and can be booked through the website; one-to-one pad work is the fastest route if you want kickboxing combinations rather than pure Muay Thai.

The fight zone is only part of the basement. Holborn's facility list includes a sled track, Olympic lifting stations loaded with Eleiko plates, a group cycle studio, holistic and dance studios, a large free weights area, cardio equipment and a sauna. For a kickboxer, the sled track is the hidden gem: a few heavy pushes after pad rounds build the leg drive that makes kicks land harder, and the sauna is right there in the changing rooms afterwards.

Expect the Gymbox atmosphere rather than a quiet dojo. The club describes itself as London's first nightclub-inspired gym, with resident DJs and an underground feel, and the brand's neon-yellow look started here. The regulars are mostly people working nearby in Holborn, Bloomsbury and Covent Garden who fit training around office hours, so the lunchtime and after-work slots are the busy ones.

Weekday hours run from 6am to 11pm, and weekends from 9am to 5pm. If you want the ring or matted area to yourself for drilling, early mornings are your best bet, because the after-work rush fills the floor from around 6pm. The 5pm weekend close is early, so Sunday afternoon sessions need to start by about 3.30pm to get a proper workout in.

The honest verdict: Gymbox Holborn suits someone who wants kicking classes plus a full gym in one central membership. If what you really want is a dedicated kickboxing syllabus with belts and structured beginner courses, Paragon Gym, a specialist club in Shoreditch, has taught kickboxing since 1996 and offers a free first class. Choose Gymbox for convenience and variety, and choose a specialist club if kickboxing is the only thing you want to do.

Walk south-east from the gym for about five minutes and you reach Lincoln's Inn Fields, the largest public square in central London, ringed by barristers' chambers. On its north side, Sir John Soane's Museum at 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP, is free and does not need booking, so you can walk in on the day. It is the architect's house, crammed with antiquities, paintings and models.

Heading the other way, Bloomsbury starts just north of High Holborn, and the British Museum is a ten-minute walk up Southampton Row and Great Russell Street. After a Saturday morning class, combining a session in the ring with a slow wander round the Soane makes for an unusually good central London morning.

Address: Gymbox Holborn, 100 High Holborn, London WC1V 6RD. Tube: Holborn on the Central and Piccadilly lines, two minutes' walk. Hours: Monday to Friday 6am to 11pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 5pm. Membership from £82 a month on 12 months (£10 joining), £102 a month on 3 months, £112 a month rolling (£30 joining), five guest passes included. Free trial via an all-access tour booked at gymbox.com. Fight classes include Muay Thai Rookie, Muay Thai and Sparring, Boxing, Counterpunch, MMA and BJJ.