• Source: 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:

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
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:

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
Nero's, Bury, Greater Manchester
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)
Chariots Farringdon (opened 1999, closed 2010 due to the Crossrail development).
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. 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 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.




References

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• Gay bathhouses in the United Kingdom
• Gay bathhouse
• Gay cruising in England and Wales
• Chariot (disambiguation)
• 1981 in LGBT rights
• Cruising for sex
• Pride parade
• Fisting
• Gay bar
• Male prostitution