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'Sauna has all the benefits of the pub'

Beth Steddon Liz Watson looks at the camera holding a towel and wearing a black swimming costume. She stands inside a wooden sauna with four other people in shot, who are all wearing swimming costumes and hats. There is a window looking out on the sea. Beth Steddon
Liz Watson says people are looking for new ways to get an endorphin kick

Although the sauna dates back 10,000 years, it's fair to say there has been a surge in popularity in recent years - particularly along the Kent and Sussex coast.

The British Sauna Society estimates there are now more than 100 saunas across the UK and Ireland.

Sauna owners attribute their success to an increased focus on wellness.

Robin Bartlett, co-founder of the Sea Scrub Sauna in Margate, says "sauna has all of the benefits of the pub" without the downsides of alcohol.

Robin Bartlett/Sea Scrub Sauna Robin Bartlett wears a grey woolly hat, glasses with black frames and a blue anorak. He stands beside a wooden tub full of water and outside a sauna with black wooden cladding and a glass window.Robin Bartlett/Sea Scrub Sauna
Robin Bartlett discovered a love for saunas on a visit to Norway

The Beach Box Sauna opened in Brighton in 2018 and has since launched another in Battle, near Hastings.

"There's a surge in wellness and a move away from alcohol and pubs and that way of socialising," says Liz Watson, CEO of the Beach Box Sauna in Brighton.

She said people are finding new ways to get an endorphin kick.

Mr Bartlett agrees there is a "sober movement" and growing preference for being outside.

He discovered cold water swimming in lockdown, which he later combined with a sauna when he visited Norway.

He remembers thinking: "This is so good, but it doesn't exist in the UK."

The Margate sauna opened in February 2023 before Mr Bartlett added another in Whitstable a year later.

Sauna also offers community and "crosses the social divide," Mr Bartlett says.

Sea Scrub Sauna One of the wood saunas at the Sea Scrub Sauna on Royal Crescent Promenade in Margate; this circular sauna is made out of wood and has a sauna heater flue at the back for smoke to exit. At the front there is a long rectangular door to enter, flanked by two smaller rectangular windows. To the left there is a bannister to walk to the entrance.Sea Scrub Sauna
Robin opened his first sauna in Margate after developing a love for cold water swimming

Dr Mark Harper, a consultant anaesthetist at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, says there are multiple health benefits from saunas.

"Studies have shown improvements in cardiovascular health. There are also suggestions that they are beneficial for mental health," he explains.

"And they are a good gateway to access the benefits of cold water swimming in that they are a great way of warming up before and after a plunge."

Dr Harper did stress, however, that "spending time in intense heat – as with intense cold – is a physical challenge".

"People need to take their physical fitness into account," he adds.

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