Gay bathhouses in the United Kingdom

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 eight in London.

Gay saunas

Current

Gay saunas in the UK:[1][2][3]

  • Acqua Sauna, Blackpool, Lancashire
  • Basement Complex, Manchester
  • ClubZeus Sauna Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
  • 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
  • Heat Sauna, Stockport, Greater Manchester
  • Helsinki Health Spa, Ipswich, Suffolk
  • Heroes Health Club, Stourbridge, West Midlands
  • Legs 800 Club, Walthamstow, London
  • Lindum Sauna, Bradford, West Yorkshire
  • Manticore Spa, Plymouth, Devon
  • Marco's Health Spa, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire[4]
  • ME1 Sauna, Rochester, Kent
  • Northwich Sauna, Northwich, Cheshire
  • 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
  • Saunabar, Bournemouth
  • Splash Spa & Leisure, Leicester
  • Steam Complex, Armley, Leeds
  • Steamworks Sauna (formerly The Pound), Edinburgh
  • Sweat, Carlisle
  • Sweatbox Sauna, London
  • The Boiler Room Sauna, Brighton
  • The Boiler Room, Sheffield
  • 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
  • Touch Sauna, Swindon, Wiltshire
  • Tropics Day Spa, Portsmouth
  • W3 Sauna, Blackpool (formerly WetWetWet), Lancashire

Closed

Former (now closed) gay saunas in the UK:[1]

  • 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
  • CS2, Nottingham
  • Eagle 50, Cardiff
  • Gator Sauna, Exeter, Devon
  • Jack's Hydro, Bangor
  • 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 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)[5]
  • Chariots Farringdon (opened 1999, closed 2010 due to the Crossrail development).[6]
  • 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)[7]
  • 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.[8]

In terms of floor-space and capacity, Chariots Shoreditch was the largest gay sauna in the UK.[9][10]

Description

Chariots Shoreditch was on three floors, decorated in the style of Roman baths.[11]

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.[12]

There were free STD testing sessions held at the bathhouse.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

Media attention

On 2 May 1998, former footballer Justin Fashanu spent the evening in Chariots Shoreditch before committing suicide nearby that night.[18][19]

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 death was due to a drugs overdose but there were no suspicious circumstances.[20]

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.[21]

References
  1. "UK Gay Sauna Index". Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  2. "Queer Saunas UK". Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  3. "Spartacus Gay Guide". Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  4. "Marco's Hull - Home". www.marcos-hull.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
  5. "Hackney Gazette". Hackney Gazette. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  6. Archive page of Chariots Farringdon in 2007.
  7. "London gay sauna Chariots Waterloo is set to be demolished". Attitude. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  8. Wakefield, Lily (26 January 2021). "Historic gay sauna Chariots Spa announces permanent closure prompting outpouring of sticky memories". Pink News. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  9. Humphreys, Rob; Bamber, Judith (2003). The Rough Guide to London (5 ed.). Rough Guides. p. 507. ISBN 978-1-84353-093-0.
  10. "Chariots Review". Time Out London. 2009.
  11. Edward, Olivia; Cortinovis, Genevieve; Eggleton, James; Lee, Youyoung; Hermitage, Ashley (2007). MTV England. Frommer's. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-7645-8773-3.
  12. "QX Magazine London Issue 767". QX Magazine London. QX (767): 88. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  13. Staff Writer (2007-10-15). "NHS to hold STI testing in gay sauna". PinkNews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  14. Chariots History, archive from official site
  15. "London's biggest gay sauna to be demolished to make way for hotel". 4 February 2016.
  16. Couture, Joseph (2008). Peek: inside the private world of public sex. Haworth Press. ISBN 978-1-56023-646-7.
  17. Woods, William J.; Binson, Diane (2003). William J. Woods; Diane Binson (eds.). Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-56023-273-5.
  18. Powell, Vicky (June 1998). "Suicide note increases speculation over death of Justin Fashanu". Gay Times. Millivres (237).
  19. "It's the national game but it is a sport which has a bad reputation for tolerance. Football started to tackle racism when black players became stars. But why is being gay still a taboo on the football field?". BBC. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
  20. Shoffman, Marc (2006-04-21). "Man found dead in gay sauna". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  21. Park, James (20 March 2011). "Chariots on fire: East London gay sauna severely damaged in fire". PinkNews.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
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