A guide to London's bathhouses

If you’re looking for a bit of fun or just some relaxation in London, there’s three main bathhouse options to investigate.

Sweatbox

You’ll find Sweatbox in Soho.

The address for Sweatbox is 1-2 Ramillies St, W1F 7LN.

Entrance is through the big red door on the corner.

Sweatbox is just off Oxford Street. The closest tube station is Oxford Circus.

Pleasuredrome

You’ll find Pleasuredrome just near Waterloo sation.

The address is 124 Cornwall Rd, SE1 8XE – it’s in the railway arches beneath the tracks, just across from Waterloo station.

Covent Garden Spa

As the name suggests, you’ll find this bathhouse in Covent Garden.

The address for Covent Garden Spa is 29 Endell Street, WC2H 9BA.

The entry door is at street level, but you immediately go downstairs to reception.

What makes a good bathhouse?

Different things appeal to different guys.

If you’re just looking for a quick hook-up so you can get off, you’re going to be prioritising different things than if you want somewhere relaxing where you can hang out for a while.

General cleanliness is a good starting point. While you don’t want somewhere that smells like a hospital - a sex-on-premises venue needs to have a bit of raunch about it - there shouldn’t be trash lying around and there should be a general level of hygiene that makes you feel comfortable. It’s generally a good idea to take a pair of flip-flops to a sauna. Most saunas will sell you flip-flops if you’ve forgotten them.

Bigger saunas will tend to offer the full range of facilities – things such as a gym, and having masseurs available who can actually give you a proper massage.

There will generally be some sort of refreshments available. It might only be basic snacks and soft-drinks, but there should be something you can buy. Don’t assume that there will be alcohol available, some saunas don’t sell alcohol because they don’t want to have to deal with drunk people or because they have licensing issues to navigate.

Some saunas will offer live shows or pool parties or other forms of entertainment. These are generally a bit of a marketing tool to get guys in through the door. You might find that you have a better time when there’s not some sort of special event happening.

You can usually tell the quality of a sauna by what their wet areas are like. There will most likely be a selection of steam rooms, dry sauna areas, hot-tubs, and showers, but are they clean? Are they well maintained? Are they at the right temperature? Is the lighting right?

There’s generally an option to spend some time in a private space. You may be able to book a private room or cabin, or you might just need to find an empty cabin and claim it. There should be an option to lock the door, if that’s what you want. The cabins should be regularly cleaned and should smell fresh.

If you’re into glory-holes, you won’t necessarily find these in all saunas, but most will have a glory-hole option somewhere.

Safety and security are also important factors. There’s a couple of elements to this. You want to feel confident that whatever you put in your locker is going to still be there when you’re ready to leave. You also want to feel physically safe. Most saunas these days are quite strict about not tolerating drug use. That’s usually a good sign – if they’re not switched on about drug use, anything could be happening.

The staff at a sauna can generally be what makes or breaks the experience. You want the staff to be friendly and efficient, but not too chatty. Don’t be afraid to talk to the staff – if you’ve got a question or a problem, let them know.

One of the main criteria for a successful sauna visit is that ideally there will be guys there that you want to have some fun with. That doesn’t mean it has to be super-busy, but you need enough guys there so that you’ve got some options. Different saunas will be busy at different times. It can be hard to predict. But a Friday night crowd is going to be different to a Sunday afternoon crowd. Both can be good options, it just depends what you’re in the mood for.

What sort of guys go to a bathhouse?

All sorts. Some bathhouses might market themselves to a particular demographic, but generally you’ll find a broad variety of all types of guys at bathhouses.

In the age of hook-up apps, some people might think that bathhouses are places just for "older" or "not fit" guys, however that’s ill-informed – lots of young and fit guys really enjoy bathhouse encounters.

There’s some cultural differences depending on where you are in the world. In parts of Europe and Asia, communal bathing and saunas have long been part of everyday life. In Russia they have the Banya, in Germany and Scandinavia they have the sauna, Turkey the hamman, Japan the onsen, and Korean spas are also very traditional. In other countries, that kind of communal bathing cultural tradition doesn’t exist which is why gay bathhouses are generally only found in the larger cities.

Are bathhouses or saunas just all about sex?

For most guys, going to a bathhouse or sauna is probably primarily about sex. But bathhouses are also an important communal setting –  much like gay bars and clubs.

Sometimes, you might meet guys at a bathhouse, build a connection, and they become a regular bathhouse fuck-buddy. Or you might get off with an anonymous dude and never think of him again.

Be open to the possibilities.

Is the golden age of bathhouses over?

The golden age of bathhouses is generally seen as the 1970s – the period when gay men were becoming more visible and were publicly embracing their sexuality. The arrival of HIV in the 1980s led to the closure of a lot of bathhouses, saunas, and sex-on-premises venues.

But bathhouses are still with us. They’re not the same as they were in the 1970s, they’ve evolved.

The whole erotic construct of bathhouses continues to hold appeal for today's men who are looking for intimacy with other men. Bathhouses remain a bit mysterious – hidden from the eyes of the mainstream - and a bit of a rite of passage for men who want to have sex with men.

Your phone can help you find a hook-up, but your phone doesn’t deliver the same experience as a bathhouse.