Our Story

We think wellbeing should be for everyone. Glasgow Community Sauna exists to make that real.

When Covid hit in 2020, the council-run health suites in leisure centres across Glasgow shut their doors. After years of neglect, those saunas and steam rooms are unlikely to ever reopen. That left people with slim options: a trip out to Loch Lomond, an expensive gym membership, or a hotel spa day. We thought Glasgow deserved better: a proper sauna, hot and well-built, that was also affordable, welcoming and open to everyone. We never saw those as a trade-off.

Glasgow sits on the same latitude as countries with the biggest sauna cultures in the world. So why is the pub the only warm place to go?

We started Glasgow Community Sauna in 2025 to build a ‘third space’ where people could slow down, meet each other and feel what hot and cold can do for you. At a time when loneliness and poor mental health are affecting more people than ever, we reckon sitting together in a sauna is a simple thing that goes a long way.

With the help of a lot of friends and volunteers, we designed and built the whole site ourselves, and built it properly. Two bespoke wood-fired saunas. Cold plunges that are chilled and filtered, not just cold. A wheelchair-accessible big sauna, the first in Scotland. Changing rooms, decking, ramps, and a walled garden to rest in. Doing it ourselves was never about making do; it meant we could build it exactly the way we thought a sauna should be.

We opened our first wood-fired sauna in Pollokshields in November 2025 and have welcomed thousands of people since. Alongside public sessions, we work with charities, community organisations and healthcare partners to run free and subsidised sessions for people who'd otherwise face barriers. LGBTQ+ groups, refugees, people recovering from trauma, neurodivergent communities and local residents.

The aim is simple: everyone, regardless of background, should feel like they belong here.

We're a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, so every penny of surplus goes back in: widening access, improving the site, supporting community programmes and opening new sites across Glasgow. Stay tuned on that last one. The non-profit structure is how we run the place, not what we're offering. What we're offering is a genuinely good sauna, and we're always working to make it better. The structure is what keeps it at £12.

All of it tucked behind the walls of an old bowling green, at the end of a quiet dead-end street: a wee world of its own. Come down and see us, meet your neighbours, get aff your phone, and connect with your body in the heat.

See you in the heat.

Tami,
GCS Founder

A young boy sitting on the wheel of a green food truck with a cartoon face and partial word "ays" on the side, outdoors in a backyard with trees and wooden fence.
Two people are standing outside near a fence and gate, one is wearing a baseball cap and the other has an orange scarf, near a black dog resting on a bed on a concrete surface. There are parked cars and a building with large windows in the background, along with leafless trees.
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