Why is there a surge in saunas along the Kent and Sussex coast?

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.