YOGA playlists and motivating pop bangers will no longer be heard in Islington’s gyms following the cash-saving decision to swap popular tunes for royalty-free music.

Greenwich Leisure Limited runs almost 300 Better sports centres across the country, including Highbury Leisure Centre, Archway Leisure Centre and the Sobell on behalf of Islington Council.

Class instructors have always used playlists of their own choosing, but will now have to use primarily royalty-free tunes instead – generic beats from an app rather than familiar songs by actual known artists – after GLL’s decision not to renew its music licence, believed to save the company roughly £1million per year.

The change was meant to be implemented in January, but was delayed until 1 March after uproar from teachers, including some 4,000 signatures on a petition opposing the move.

Yoga teacher Nahdeannah Francis-Pennant told the Tribune she has since stopped using music in her sessions at Better gyms and stopped attending the other classes she used to go to at Highbury and Sobell.

She said: “I love music and I love movement, so I’m not going to give [the app] a go, because it will be so dry, I already know that. It’s soulless, it’s got no history, what’s anchoring it? Nothing.

“I feel quite disappointed. Songs have meanings, they carry memories, so we’ve lost a lot.

“The way I use music in my classes is to cue tracks by the flow of energy, and the selection comes from my lived experience. And doing yoga in leisure centre spaces is different from in a yoga studio – music helps to protect the integrity of the space.”

Yoga teacher Nahdeannah Francis-Pennant

Of the dance fitness and body conditioning classes she has stopped attending, she added: “I used to love a dance fitness class on Mondays in Highbury – the instructor played really great old-school bangers with a good bassline that just take you back to being on the dance floor. Other teachers play dancehall, Afrobeats, Soca – I’m a Black British yoga teacher, so it’s about more than the exercise, it’s affirming of who you are. It’s your individualism, your identity. Music gives you inspiration to move.”

She told how some teachers were even leaving Better altogether.

Susanne Griffin, who attends yoga, aqua aerobics and Zumba classes at a Better gym in Camden, told the Tribune: “The powers that be seem to have been totally surprised that anyone even bothered to react to it. They’re not really in tune with their staff at all, because people have been upset about it across the country.

“Teachers have said it doesn’t have any soul, that it makes them feel sick, and they say that in Islington there are managers patrolling the classes to police the new policy. They didn’t even talk to the customers about it – I still wouldn’t have liked it, but they’d have at least gone through due process.”

A spokesperson for GLL said: “We’re aware of some concern and confusion regarding changes to music licensing in our fitness classes from this spring.

“In late 2025 we were notified that the cost of our existing music licence would increase significantly. As a charitable social enterprise focused on community benefit, we reviewed our options to ensure we continue using our resources responsibly and sustainably.

“Following this review, we have asked class instructors to transition to PPL pre-cleared, royalty-free music, giving them free access to platforms such as Power Music to create playlists using professionally recorded studio tracks.

“We held 67 engagement sessions with more than 500 instructors to gather feedback, which has helped us expand platform options, broaden music genres, and retain known tracks for some classes.

“For customers, classes will continue to run at the same times, led by the same instructors, with great music and the same energy people know and enjoy.”

They also said they have introduced additional music genres, including Afrobeats and Bhangra, in response to feedback from staff.

• Nahdeannah’s yoga classes are detailed on her Instagram @akomaheartuk