Porchester Spa
London's Oldest Spa, Still Its Best Secret
Editor’s Take
Check the timetable carefully — sessions alternate between men-only, women-only, and mixed. The hottest room is genuinely intense; work up to it through the cooler rooms first. The cafe is basic but charming. Bring your own towel for a small discount.
About
Porchester Spa has been open since 1929, making it London's oldest continuously operating spa — and it remains one of its best. Housed in a Grade II-listed Art Deco building in Bayswater, the spa offers Turkish hot rooms at various temperatures, a bracing cold plunge, two swimming pools, steam facilities, and a relaxation area with a cafe. Westminster Council runs it, which means the prices are almost absurdly low by London wellness standards. The Turkish hot rooms are the reason people return week after week, year after year, decade after decade. The heat builds through a sequence of progressively warmer rooms, each tiled in period ceramic that glows under soft lighting. The cold plunge is properly cold — none of the tepid compromises found at hotel spas — and the contrast between the searing hot rooms and the icy water is addictive. The relaxation lounge, with its cafe serving simple refreshments, is where the social element unfolds: strangers in towels chatting about nothing and everything. There is something profoundly reassuring about a wellness venue that has been doing the same thing well for nearly a century. While London's wellness industry lurches from trend to trend, Porchester Spa quietly delivers the fundamentals — heat, cold, water, rest, community — in a building that is itself a work of art. It is proof that you do not need a venture-backed brand or a membership waitlist to create a great thermal experience. You just need hot rooms, cold water, and an open door.
Treatments & Services
Signature: Turkish hot rooms circuit
Highlights
- ✓London's oldest spa — since 1929
- ✓Grade II-listed Art Deco building
- ✓Turkish hot rooms and cold plunge
- ✓Two swimming pools
- ✓Cafe and relaxation areas at council prices
Best For
Heritage enthusiasts, budget-conscious Londoners, regulars who have been coming for years, and curious visitors who want to experience nearly a century of London bathing culture
Contact & Info
Address
Porchester Centre, Queensway, London W2 5HS
Hours
Mon–Sun, session times vary by gender — check timetable
Languages
English
Similar Venues
Ironmonger Row Baths
A 1930s Art Deco public bathhouse in Clerkenwell offering Turkish baths with salt and juniper saunas, steam rooms, an ice room, cold plunge, a swimming pool, and squash — all at council-run prices that shame every luxury spa in London.
Book now →
Third Space
London's most premium fitness and wellness chain, Third Space operates 13 destination clubs combining Olympic-standard pools, luxury spas, and 200+ weekly group classes with an unmistakable members-only social atmosphere.
Banya No.1
The real deal — Banya No.1 brings authentic Russian bathhouse culture to Hoxton with genuine parenie birch branch treatments, extreme steam heat, cold plunges, and a communal atmosphere that's been drawing Londoners since opening.
Sauna & Plunge
Finnish and infrared saunas, cold plunge, yoga, pilates, breathwork studios, and a cafe — Sauna & Plunge in Shoreditch delivers the full social wellness experience with a monthly Run Club in partnership with Tenzing.
Book now →