Usually, industry conferences are events where people tolerate speeches and pleasant professional chit chat in the expectation that they will be rewarded with free travel mugs and a subsidised bar.

But the mottled crowd of trendy east Londoners, health experts and wellness entrepreneurs who gathered on a chic Hackney rooftop this summer for a “supercharged day of inspiration, learning and connection” were not so bothered about the bar.

They communed at 2024's UK Sauna Summit to sit in hot, sweaty boxes together and excitedly discuss the huge potential of sauna in prudish, pub-loving Britain.

No longer an afterthought at a leisure centre or a thing of seedier associations, sauna use has exploded in the UK. According to the British Sauna Society, who organised the conference, there are now well over 100 public saunas in Britain, up from 90 at the beginning of the year and less than 50 at the beginning of 2023. That is expected to double again to more than 200 next year. Saunas really are the hottest new hangout spots.

What started as a wellness trend is well on its way to becoming a uniquely British subculture of its own. We don't like it or can't handle it as hot or as steamy as the Scandis (yet) and we're not likely to get behind fully nude saunas anytime soon either. But the beauty of lacking our own tradition means there is that much more room to experiment. This is why the summit was a sell-out. Everyone is excited about what's happening next.

'We're at the very beginning of sauna culture'

There is no better example of this than Community Sauna Baths. Pioneers in the UK scene and a big part of the conference, their original setup in Hackney Wick is one-of-a-kind and surely what all aspiring sauna people are seeking to replicate in some way.

“We’re at the very beginning of sauna culture in the UK and it’s very exciting because we feel quite proud about what we’re doing here. It feels like we’re leading the way,” says Abbey Collins, who runs the Hackney Wick site.

Fittingly, it has sprouted in a courtyard suntrap that’s attached to the original 1935 Eastway Baths building. Long since converted into a warren of art and community spaces, artisan workshops and a cafe, the building originally served as a public bath and laundry house.

Gustav, the sauna cat, weaves indifferently through the sweaty visitors as Collins explains why the offering goes above just the saunas and cold plunges: “I think we’re going to see more things like this, more creative experiences and I think there’s the scope for way more than we’re doing right now,” she says. “Staff are coming up with new ideas for sauna experiences all the time.”

Beyond the six saunas, which vary — one is a silent meditative space, for example — there’s live music, life drawing, sound baths and poetry nights.

“We have an event that’s just for women called Myth Mondays,” she adds. “They do a night of storytelling, and it’s an immersive experience, they have a firepit going outside the sauna.”

If this all sounds very Hackney, it’s because it is. The non-profit’s other spots in Stratford and Peckham have their own flavour that Collins says represents each locale.

No phones, no alcohol: 'It's pure disconnection'

Beyond how great it feels, what really brings people back again and again is the open-minded community that has formed at the site.

Having an active social life in London usually hinges on frequent visits to the city’s thousands of excellent pubs —but Collins explains that for her and many of their regulars, it was a relief to finally find a place to see friends that didn’t require drinking.

And for a space that is sober by design, everyone is remarkably uninhibited. “People feel the impact of the heat and the cold. That relaxation. Being able to have that time by yourself, no mobile phones. It’s pure disconnection,” she explains.

“They feel it’s easier to share their vulnerability because of how the sauna makes them feel. They come out of it feeling very relaxed and in tune with their bodies and connected to other people.”

Besides the pub, the sauna is one of only a few places where it is socially acceptable, even encouraged, to strike up conversation with strangers.

The absence of phones in particular really helps interactions flow. And starting at £8.50 a pop, you are likely spending far less than at a session in your average London pub.

From a trend to a way of life

But why has it taken the UK so long to join the club? It’s really quite a simple concept, and they’ve been doing it in Finland and Germany for centuries.

At least for now, sauna is very much still an add-on to wellness and fitness on these shores. But there’s enough momentum now that sauna seems, like yoga before it, destined to graduate from a trend to a way of life.

We began our well-meaning misadoption of yoga as a kind of exercise blended with gymnastics rather than a set of ancient Indian meditation practices almost 50 years ago, and now there are perhaps more than 5,000 dedicated yoga studios in the UK.

The difference is that yoga was introduced to the West intentionally. Initially by travelling gurus, but helped quite a lot by The Beatles, whose 1968 trip to India sparked enormous interest in yoga, meditation and playing the sitar.

It hasn’t happened that way with sauna — the whole thing has come about via osmosis. It may just be the next in a long line of things brought in from abroad that have eventually become irrefutably British — like tea, spag bol or Sweet Caroline.

Turning old trailers into temples of steam

Tess Sandilands co-founded The Nomadic Sauna in Sussex with partner Karn and their friends, Dan Lawson and his wife Charlotte, after the group had a chance encounter on the beach in Goa, India — and quickly realised they all happened to live in Shoreham-by-Sea.

Lawson, a Team GB 24hr ultra-runner, had started using saunas to recover from runs and Sandilands, a wild swimmer, admits initially it was simply a good way to warm up after getting out of the cold water. It was on these “sauna dates” that the four conspired to build one and put it right there on the beach opposite where they lived.

“We just went and bought a trailer off Facebook marketplace, and Karn built it in his spare time,” explains Sandilands.

18 months later and they have added two more. The most recent sauna will meet popular demand at Pells Pool, a beloved outdoor public swimming pool in Lewes, East Sussex, that dates back to 1860. Lewesians are very fond of Pells.

It is only because of this fondness that the lido has survived multiple threats of closure or proposed sell-offs over its long history. To see a sleek new sauna sitting next to its original and untouched 1960 kiosk is a testament to how strong the desire has become.

“The community has built up in such a short period of time. We get a lot of repeat customers, a lot of regulars, and they will have their 5pm slot on a Wednesday, or the 8pm slot on a Friday,” says Sandilands.

Unlike in Hackney Wick, the Nomadic Sauna operates for profit — the operation is supporting two families after all — but Sandilands feels strongly that it is possible to offer a unique, even luxury, experience while keeping the sauna affordable and accessible to everyone.

“We really like to personalise our experience so people feel that we're looking after them. At some saunas, you just go, you get your time, you get an hour. You don't get any human contact. We are very keen on being hosts and hosting our community properly,” she adds.

Lebanese cinnamon tea, orange slices, essential oils to dab onto your skin — these details do add a special touch to an otherwise simple practice.

Anxieties drowned out by 'every nerve-ending being activated'

And it really does feel fantastic. On the beach the contrast of the hot steam and icy sea are even starker. Watching the waves through the sauna’s wide window after returning from a plunge adds another layer of relaxation.

Luke Blyth, a regular at their beach sauna in Seaford, credits the visits for his peaceful mental state.

He says: “When you run down to the sea for a plunge after 15 minutes in the sauna, whatever was going on in your mind, whatever was playing over and over, is drowned out by that whole-body feeling of every nerve-ending being activated because it’s so cold or so hot

“It puts you in a different state of mind.”

'Finnish people just turn up with their sausages'

The luxury wellness canapes and drinks, converted horse boxes on the beach — it’s all very strange and exciting to Europe’s traditional sauna practitioners. When Collins went to the World Sauna Forum in Jyväskylä, Finland earlier this year, everyone was excited about the UK scene.

Sauna in Finland is so commonplace and such an essential part of everyday life that it does not occur to Finns to change much about it. “They’re everywhere. Families use them, they spend the whole day there,” Collins says.

Some Finnish practices go so far back they have a primal edge. On the trip, Collins found herself in a pitch-black, smoke-filled box. There’s no chimney, “they light the fire then they just let it go”.

“They claim because they’re burning Birch wood, it’s actually very good for you,” she adds with a wry smile. Traditionally, past generations of Finns would build these smoke-saunas before they even built their houses, to provide essential warmth, and would even cook on the sauna stones.

“In some places in Finland they still do that but most saunas you go to in the forest have put signs up saying: ‘No BBQing inside the sauna’. Otherwise Finnish people just turn up with their sausages.”

Anniina Hillebrandt, an organic farmer who runs a sauna in her native Helsinki in the winter, is similarly matter-of-fact. She explains that entire families will come to her sauna, strip off and spend hours there. “Sometimes they bring beer in, it is not unusual for people to spend all day in and out of the sauna, drinking with their friends and family.”

Hillebrandt is keen on bringing new ideas into the culture, however. On a recent trip to Japan, she visited traditional Onsen: geothermally heated springs and the traditional inns that surround them. The benefits are similar — except you are soaking in magma-heated water and not a box of hot steam.

Interestingly, despite Finns’ general affinity for very hot steam, which they call löyly, (and their amusement at the British sensitivity to it), Hillebrandt struggled. “I couldn’t believe how hot the water was. Almost instantly, my skin went bright red. To be honest, I was unsure if it was healthy.”

Onsen and smoke-sauna sessions may eventually find their way on to the list of related experiences you can book through a wellness app. But for now, the uncomplicated euphoria of hot and cold alone is winning plenty of converts.

The industry may also benefit from a generational change in behaviour. Younger people are leading the sobriety charge - around one third of 18-24 year olds do not drink alcohol. Over time, the generation that is opting for frothy oat milk over frothy pints may also choose to meet up for after-work sauna rather than after-work pub.