Mile End Climbing Wall

Good for it’s size, and wonderful to have in the heart of East London. Recently extended, there is a great deal of space dedicated to bouldering, inculding the 'monkey room’ which is awesome. Not a lot of top roping last time I went if you’re a beginner, but still worth a visit. Training room for the more hardcore climbers is worth a visit. Courses avaliable.

Went here a few years ago and it’s quite a small place mainly bouldering walls. It is good for its size and nice to have in east london. There are better climbing walls around London.

Mile End Wall, you are like a long lost love. I cannot wait for you to come back into my life. Having been cursed with the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome for the past month or so, I’ve had to eschew all fantasies of hitting French bouldering grade 6A by December 2008; and instead turn my energies to sorting my dodgy fingers out. Now I’m fighting fit, I thought it would be a great time to say how much I adore this place and think that (if you like bouldering as much as I do) you’ll agree that Mile End Wall is the best place in the UK to get your rock fix until it’s bearably warm enough to consider venturing outside.

Ensconced within one of the few leafy conservation areas in East London and situated next to London’s canal it’s probably at its finest in the spring, when there’s the hope of actually getting outside in the near future on the horizon and it’s warm enough to sit in the park outside the pub a minute away looking at the flowing water after a hard day’s work on the wall.

For the new year’s resolution brigade: cancel the gym membership and try this. Personally climbing changed my relationship to exercise completely; I used to plod along the treadmill bored stiff, desperately trying to avert my eyes from excruciatingly dull music videos of airbrushed pop-stars prancing around, in case I fell asleep right there and then. When my 30 mins was up I was onto the weights, gagging for the end of the hour when I could finally get to the fun bit, namely the sauna. When you’re learning to climb, you have no choice but to focus wholly on what you’re doing and it’s very mentally engaging.

It’s even better to do it in a friendly, non-elitist and supportive environment where perfect strangers say hello to you; which always happens here. I have lost track of the times when I have fallen off and been helped to do a move with more grace by someone I’ve never met before. For a sport that sometimes conjures up images of chest beating machismo and competitiveness, this is the possibly the most friendly place I’ve been.

As well as having enormously varied climbing facilities and a well stocked Rock On! Shop, they’re also the only financially viable option post credit crunch in my opinion! You can get a month’s unlimited climbing for around £35, locker hire is 50p and shoe hire is £2. You have to pay a one off registration fee of £2 as well if you’re a newbie as well.

The only thing they can really do with improving (and I include all fitness centres when I say this) is WHY OH WHY must there be no cheap or appetising fruits available (bananas can’t be that much of a hassle and they get crushed in my backpack) and loads of chocolate, fizzy stuff and 'isotonic’ junk? I’ve weakened many a time when I’ve been starving and it’s not good. I swear it’s part of a conspiracy to keep people chasing that oh-so elusive six pack….

I went here for the first time last weekend and it was awesome. I haven’t had an adrenaline rush that big for a long time - it was well worth the 12 pounds (membership, plus shoe hire, plus £7 for session). The coffee was also very tastey and only 60p a cup!
I’d been led to believe that climbers could be a bit nerdy-cliquey and hostile to newcomers, but the staff at Mile End Climbing Wall were really friendly and smiley and even lent me a pair of nail clippers so i could get my girly hands into the crevices (durrrgh).
Tip: If you’re new to climbing take my advice and ignore the cheap coffee - you don’t need to make yourself any more jittery - you’ll get 'disco’ or 'motorbike’ leg anyway once your 5 ft up.

Great facilities here, and while the centre is smaller than The Castle in N.London, the pricing is slightly cheaper (£7 compared to £10.50 at Castle).

They do a range of training courses which cater for all levels, while the taster session is great for anyone looking to check out what indoor climbing is like but without having to commit long term.

If you are afraid of heights, which I am, then you might not think a climbing wall is the best place to attend. However, this is in fact the place to get over such fears.

Situated by the Regent's canal, the Mile End climbing Wall offers challenges to the very experienced outdoor specialists right down to the likes of me, with a low traverse wall. Much like hanging, climbing focuses the mind and is one of those excercises that works all parts of the body.

At £7 a go, the path to fitness is not cheap, but the path to enjoyment is assured once you get the satisfcation of reaching the top of a wall.

For more details visit their website