Climb Central Novena - 238 Thomson Rd

Smallest of the 3 climb Central gyms in Singapore but has nice routes nonetheless. Can get a bit warm when you get higher on the wall.

It is difficult to recommend CC novena in its current state. Yes, the walls are smaller, its route setting is soft, and there’s no real bouldering zone to speak of. But these don’t necessarily break the climbing experience. What does, however, is the consistently poor customer service that has plagued this branch (and CC overall, if we’re being honest) for over a year now. First off is the booking system that 1) has below average session lengths, and 2) is impossible to book sessions on weekday evenings and weekends in general, due to a bot that hoovers up all of the slots instantly at release. A “fix” was done to supposedly address the bot problem, but you can easily visit the booking site and witness all the rush hour slots disappear in a matter of seconds. Next is that their staff seem to lack in both climbing acumen and customer service skills. One example is that on two (2) occasions I had staff approach me to insist that I am putting my harness on wrong. My own -personal- harness. That I’ve used for two years. They were in absolute denial that I was wearing it correctly, and I had to show that the logo was upright for them to finally give in. (This is a regular harness by the way- no fancy design or anything.) While I’m sure they were looking out for my safety (which is great,) this rather shook my confidence in the staff’s ability to actually do so. I know for a fact that there are veteran climbers in the staff who are exceptionally qualified in their work- I’ve met a few of them with fantastic results. But the massive fluctuations in quality among the staff make me hesitant to approach staff I don’t recognise as one of the ‘good’ ones for assistance- you simply won’t know if they would end up a hinderance instead. The bad ones in particular would rather take the opportunity to throw the book at you rather than be constructive in their help. Yes, COVID is a major pain, and yes, the climbing scene is very much still in development. Notwithstanding, this really points to the impression that Climb Central hasn’t focused their designs for climbers. They’ve targeted non-climbers as their audience- and it shows. 2 and less-than-a-half hours of climb time? That’s more than enough for rental shoe bros! Overbearing staff? Well, would non-climbers know any better? Newcomers are so star struck by the spectacle of CC’s locations that they forgive the lapses that other climbing gyms avoid. When you’ve made climbing a frequent hobby and have invested even a little time in it, CC’s value proposition begins to pale. To the point where a multi pass no longer makes sense- even when it’s cheaper than most other gyms. Edit: Grammar. Original post is mid-May.

Official closing time is 9pm but they will start playing closing time song from 8:30 until you leave ;)

Great gym, but incredibly inflexible to work with. I made a booking last week but after a severe injury yesterday that left me too dizzy to climb this morning they were unwilling to reschedule my session to when I was feeling better and safe. This is after coming multiple times and registering as a member. Way to show you care more about profit than the safety of your members. Way to lose a regular climber guys, I will go with someone who is more flexible and respects their customers and their safety. I will also be recommending my friends go elsewhere also.

Helpful and enthusiastic staff made it easy for me to get my young son and myself climbing for the first time.

The staff did a good job in the safety briefing. They were positive, encouraging and I sensed a good work culture among the team/staff. Keep up the good work!

Had a ball of a time with my cousins in tow for our 1st rock climbing experience.Very friendly and attentive staffs who briefed us on the proper use of gears, techniques and safety protocols. Super sweet female staff who did walk around to check on us and interact with us for the duration we were there.Higly recommended!

Very nice! Such a fun day with the family trying rock climbing for the first time. The staff there are very experienced and provide a good safety briefing with practice sessions to make sure you do it safely. Can get quite crowded later in the day. Prices are full day pass so you can come in and out. But they may stop entry if they are full house.