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Members of the upmarket David Lloyd gym have accused the chain of "pure greed" after it introduced a £140-a-month "queue jumping" package.

The club's new package allows people to book tennis courts one day before standard members, but loyal customers claim this turns their membership "meaningless" as courts would fully book before they became available.

Members of the signature deal have ten-day booking rights, whereas regular members can only book nine days before the courts open online.

One customer, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Telegraph that the courts at his local club near Wimbledon, were so popular that members are already required to log on at 7.30am, nine days in advance to book.

His membership costs him and his partner £2,385 each a year. A single-only membership would cost roughly £3,000, he claimed.

In an email to a David Lloyd member, seen by the newspaper, an employee said the package was “part of a broader focus on health, longevity and premium wellness experiences."

The member said: "It is the quiet conversion of basic court access into a pay-to-play model that strips value from existing memberships.

"Introducing paid priority access does not fix a capacity issue, it monetises it.

"Standard members technically retain booking rights, but in practice those rights become meaningless once courts are taken before their window opens."

A separate post on Threads accused the club of profiting from "pure greed."

The branch he uses is not yet part of the trial, but members there have started a petition amid concerns it could be rolled out nationwide, permanently.

It calls for "the protection of fair and reasonable access to shared tennis facilities."

The group also argued that: "From the perspective of tennis-led members, the distinguishing feature of this tier is not additional health services, but earlier access to court bookings."

The high-end chain oversees 137 clubs across the UK and Europe, after it was first established in the 1980s by tennis player David Lloyd.

It was bought out by investment company TDR in 2013 for £750 million.

A David Lloyd Leisure spokesperson said: "We are currently trialling a new Signature package, created to provide personalised health and wellness support.

"Only a very small number of these memberships are available, and the package includes premium health checks, curated health plans, tailored personal training based on the results of those checks and a range of member benefits.

"The trial is running until the end of March at 13 of our 109 clubs across the UK."