A Sauna on the Pier
FRANCESCA SULLIVAN
After the Samphire Sauna’s annual summer break for overhaul, the UK’s only sauna on a pier will be back on 5 July, bigger and better!
Owners Zoya Jordan and Nell Monck have been at the helm of this Hastings success story. Four years after opening it has become an all year round attraction for visitors as well as a hub for locals, with a regular clientele and a reputation for community involvement. As it turned out, they have been riding the crest of a wave already in the making.
“We’ve been lucky in that we started the business at a time when sauna culture was really taking off,” Zoya says. “At that time there were about forty mobile saunas in the UK, and now there are 650, so the expansion has been insane. It’s no longer just about going somewhere to get warm after a swim. Sauna has become more of a way of life in the UK, whereas once it was something you only did at the gym. It’s also part of ‘contrast therapy’ using hot and the cold to naturally raise serotonin and promote well being.”
The Samphire Sauna (the name was dreamed up as a play on alliteration coupled with natural sea connections) began as a pop-up enterprise, moving around between Eastbourne, Bexhill and Bodiam, staying for short residences. Zoya and Nell initially intended the sauna to be on the beach, but local restrictions ended up working in their favour.
“Being halfway between Hastings and St Leonards makes us easily accessible to a wide range of customers, and also being on the pier has big advantages. Often beach saunas have to remove their mobile units each night, whereas we not only have the security of keeping them behind locked gates, we also have access to electricity and running water. We have an office space and, importantly, changing rooms, something we wouldn’t have been able to offer customers had we been down on the beach. Winter is our busiest season and when the weather’s cold people really want somewhere they can get changed in comfort.”
Despite this (and who wouldn’t love to luxuriate in the wood fired heat while gazing down at the crashing waves on the icy beach below) I sampled the sauna on a very hot day. The sun loungers, overhead shower and plunge pool out on the terrace would have been welcome even without the need to experience a bracing contrast, but of course that’s not all it’s about. Attention to detail – the way the space is laid out, it’s rustic components and brightly painted horse box units, each containing a spotless and inviting interior, the scent of both the wood and availability of natural skin products (I sampled the ‘Samphire Sauna’ own brand of seasonal body scrub) and the friendly and attentive attitude of the staff, are all part of it.
The sauna may be on the pier but it’s close enough to the beach to nip down for a sea plunge halfway through the session – something I took advantage of – thereby adding a saltwater addition to the sensory experience before lying back in the sauna for one last infusion of deep heat. As a single, I also had lovely conversations with other customers.
“The communal aspect has really taken us by surprise,” Nell told me, “with like-minded people using the Samphire as an alternative low-fi healthy environment in which to meet up instead of maybe going to the pub. Customers have connected here, started up friendships, businesses and even boyfriend and girlfriend relationships. Healthy hen-dos, family bookings and friends down for the weekend are all typical of the clientele.”
Being able to employ people (eleven at the moment) is also something Zoya and Nell are proud of. “We began the business doing absolutely everything ourselves, including running all the sessions, looking after the maintenance and doing all the marketing. But each time we’ve expanded, we’ve reinvested that money back into the business, providing a better service for our customers and contributing to the town’s economy, particularly during the slow winter months.”
Sessions are forty-five minutes, allowing time for the staff to go in and clean thoroughly in between. Those interested can also be reassured that the daily ‘deep clean’ each morning is done using natural, non-toxic cleaning products, and the Samphire Sauna’s environmental footprint is carefully monitored.
“We use sustainable sources of wood from a local supplier in Battle,” Zoya says. “Our electricity is derived from solar panels, we have LED lighting, and frankly the biggest electrical outlay is boiling the office kettle for a cup of tea in the morning!”
Sessions can be booked as a group or as individuals, but the revamped, reopened Samphire Sauna will have a new regular feature: special women only, men only and queer/trans sessions. Deals can also be had on multi-sessions booked in advance.
Replacement of one of the saunas with a larger, improved unit will also have the welcome innovation of a steam room option, something very much in demand at the moment. A slightly larger space will also give the opportunity for bigger group bookings and possibly sauna-inspired events, such as introducing a visiting ‘sauna master’!
Watch this space?
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