Gay bathhouses in the United Kingdom are referred to as "gay saunas", as opposed to gay bathhouses, the term more commonly used in North America. There are gay saunas throughout the UK in most major cities, including seven in London.

Gay saunas Current

Gay saunas in the UK:

Acqua Sauna, Blackpool, Lancashire Basement Complex, Manchester ClubZeus Sauna Mansfield, Nottinghamshire ClubZeus Sauna Sheffield Covent Garden Health Spa (formerly The Stable and Saunabar), London Dolphin Sauna, New Brighton, Merseyside E15 Club, Stratford, London Gentry Spa, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire Heroes Health Club, Stourbridge, West Midlands Just For You, Birmingham Manticore Spa, Plymouth, Devon Marco's Health Spa, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire ME1 Sauna, Rochester, Kent Nero's Sauna, Bury, Greater Manchester Number 52, Newcastle upon Tyne Outside Sauna, Belfast Pennine Sauna, Oldham, Greater Manchester Plastic Ivy Sauna, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire Pleasuredrome, London Portsea Sauna, London Sailors Sauna (formerly Chariots), Limehouse, London Sauna Sauna Northwich, Northwich, Cheshire Saunabar, Bournemouth Splash Spa & Leisure, Leicester Steam Complex, Armley, Leeds Steamer Quay, Torquay Steamworks Sauna (formerly The Pound), Edinburgh Sweat, Carlisle Sweatbox Sauna, London The Boiler Room Sauna, Brighton The Brighton Sauna, Brighton The Greenhouse, Luton, Bedfordshire The Greenhouse, Darlaston, West Midlands The Greenhouse, Newport, Gwent The Locker Room, Kennington, London The Pipeworks, Glasgow The Pipeworks, Leeds Touch Sauna, Swindon, Wiltshire Tropics Day Spa, Portsmouth W3 Sauna, Blackpool (formerly WetWetWet), Lancashire

Closed Former (now closed) gay saunas in the UK:

Base Sauna (H2O), Manchester Base, Newcastle Base, Leeds Bright 'N' Beautiful Sauna, Brighton Celts Sauna, Leicester Chariots Farringdon, London Chariots Shoreditch, London Chariots Streatham, London Chariots Vauxhall, London Chariots Waterloo, London The Cage, Derry Club 69, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire Club Kudos, Dundee CS1, Derby CS2, Nottingham Eagle 50, Cardiff Gator Sauna, Exeter, Devon Heat Sauna, Stockport, Greater Manchester Helsinki Health Spa, Ipswich, Suffolk Jack's Hydro, Bangor Legs 800 Club, Walthamstow, London Lindum Sauna, Bradford, West Yorkshire Men's Micro Sauna (formerly Sauna 61 / Alpha Sauna), Maidstone, Kent Number 18, Edinburgh Pink Broadway, Southampton, Hampshire Sparta (formerly Lads Locker Room), Bristol Spartan, Erdington, Birmingham Splash Sauna, Liverpool, Merseyside Star Steam, Battersea, London Steamworks, New Cross, London Suite.429, Chelmsford, Essex The Bathhouse (formerly The Suite), Bath The Boiler Room, Sheffield The Frat House, Sheffield The Greenhouse, Barnsley The Lane, Glasgow The Pound, Edinburgh Unit 1 Sauna, Rottingdean, East Sussex Unit 2 Sauna, Birmingham Wellman's Health Studio, Aberdeen Wolf Spa, Nottingham

Chariots Chariots Leisure Ltd at one point operated six gay saunas in London; as of 2020, all are closed, with another open under a different name. These venues were: Chariots Shoreditch (opened 1996, closed 2016) Chariots Farringdon (opened 1999, closed 2010 due to the Crossrail development).Archive page of Chariots Farringdon in 2007. Chariots Streatham (opened 1999, closed 2016) Chariots Limehouse (2002, previously Sailors Sauna, since c.2013 Sailors Sauna again) Chariots Waterloo (opened 2003, previously Wellingtons Health Club, closed 2018) Chariots Vauxhall (2005, closed March 2020). In January 2021 Chariots Spa announced that it had gone into liquidation and that Chariots Vauxhall was permanently closed.

In terms of floor-space and capacity, Chariots Shoreditch was the largest gay sauna in the UK.

Description Chariots Shoreditch was on three floors, decorated in the style of Roman baths.

On the ground floor was the main entrance with several areas of customer lockers, main shower room, TV lounge with bar/cafe, vending machines, internet area and an inclusive gym with several work-out machines.

The first floor housed a maze of free private cabins of various sizes including orgy rooms and an extensive dark maze (pitch black orgy room and set of cabins).

The second floor had a swimming pool, poolside loungers, two whirlpools (Jacuzzis), two steam-rooms, two hot dry saunas, showers, glory-hole cubicles, a second smaller dark room, outside private smoking area and a porn video/orgy room.

There were free STD testing sessions held at the bathhouse.

Chariots Roman Spa opened in 1997. The management previously ran Rio's, a Kentish Town naturist spa. Originally a warehouse, the Shoreditch redevelopment cost £2.5 million.Chariots History, archive from official site In 2000 the venue was significantly expanded with the addition of the restaurant, 30 more cubicles, video lounge and internet room. It was announced in February 2016 that the venue would be closing down, and the building would be demolished for a redevelopment of the site.

Chariots Waterloo was on one level on the first floor of the building. It comprised an entrance lobby, locker room, cafe, showers, a steam room, a large sauna later divided in two, dark rooms, glory holes, private rooms and relaxation area.

Etiquette Customers were given two towels, a locker key and condoms on entrance. Further condoms were available from wall dispensers. Most people kept the second towel as a dry spare in their locker. The convention was to walk around the bathhouse wearing a towel, though nudity in the dry or steam sauna was normal. Apart from the lounge, cafe area, lockable cabins and within the Jacuzzi, sexual activity occurred anywhere, with anyone free to watch or attempt to join in.

Media attention On 2 May 1998, former footballer Justin Fashanu spent the evening in Chariots Shoreditch, before committing suicide nearby that night.

There was significant press interest and internet speculation in 2006 when Chariots Shoreditch was closed for Easter weekend, after a 24-year-old man's body was found. The police investigation found that the death was due to a drugs overdose, but there were no suspicious circumstances.

On Sunday 20 March 2011, the London Fire Brigade were called to attend a fire which was reported to have destroyed most of the ground floor of Chariots Shoreditch. 150 patrons were evacuated, and there were no injuries.

Notable gay sauna buildings Sauna Sauna Northwich

Sauna Sauna Northwich is a gay sauna and social venue located in Northwich, Cheshire, and is noted for operating within a building of historical industrial and scientific significance. It is regarded as one of the largest gay sauna venues in the United Kingdom.

History

The building occupied by Sauna Sauna Northwich predates its current use, and has a long association with Britain's chemical industry. It originally formed part of facilities connected to Brunner, Mond & Co., a chemical manufacturing company founded in 1873 that played a significant role in the development of the British alkali and chemical sectors.

From 1933, the site became associated with research activities at the Winnington Laboratories, operated by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) following the merger of several British chemical firms, including Brunner, Mond & Co. The laboratories were active throughout much of the 20th century, and were involved in a range of industrial research programmes. In the same year, chemists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett made the accidental discovery of polyethylene at the Winnington Laboratories while conducting high pressure experiments involving ethylene. Although the initial result was difficult to reproduce, subsequent research led to reliable production methods, and polyethylene later became one of the most widely used plastics worldwide.

References