A warehouse in Walthamstow that once housed Italian restaurant Arte e Pasta has gone from spaghetti to sauna with the opening of bathhouse Arvo. It’s by two former tech workers: Australian Jody Gilligan, who struggled to find the same bathhouse experience she loved in Australia, and her British partner Will Hargreaves.
“It’s amazing seeing the sauna culture pop up in London,” Gilligan tells Broadsheet. “But what we felt was missing … that is the norm in Australia, but hasn’t quite reached London yet, is that more neighbourhood experience. [A bathhouse] that’s just on a residential street, it’s not on a high street, it’s not really a destination, it’s just part of your life if you are local to the area.”
“[We were] coming to an age, or a point in our careers where we wanted to live more intentionally for ourselves, be a bit truer to ourselves and what we wanted to,” adds Hargreaves.
Gilligan and Hargreaves found the perfect space in Walthamstow, a neighbourhood Gilligan says has a “built-in community vibe, a real sense of supporting local”. They spent 10 weeks fitting out the warehouse with a duo of custom-designed Finnish saunas and two – soon to be three – ice baths. The work was worth it: a waitlist of 2000 before opening and 1500 hot-cold devotees through the door in the first two weeks.
Visitors enter via a minimal reception area that’s filled with plants and has a large sofa to zone out pre-session with a tea. Once they enter the bathhouse, guests are free to flow between the saunas, shower and ice baths for an hour. A noticeboard recommends how long to spend in each. The duo has designed the timber-lined saunas with extra-deep benches for laying down or reading. Having two saunas was intentional: one for those who prefer a silent experience and another for socialising.
Arvo will soon announce a series of events, ranging from run club meetups to journalling, breathwork meditations and sessions to encourage people of colour into wellness spaces. Gilligan and Hargreaves plan on expanding the space, too, to incorporate an infrared studio for hot Pilates, hot yoga and hot breathwork sessions. And, naturally, they’re leaning into the Australiana with a coffee cart they’ll park in the courtyard.
Much of the experience lies in the details – particularly the light, which bounces across the space in the afternoons, casting shadows off the plants. The wood in the saunas is the darkest possible, to create warmth, and they are lit with special LED lights that mimic the ambient haze of an Australian sunset. The name itself is a classic Australian shortening of “afternoon” – “that slower part of the day where you clock off and you can actually just exhale and exist”, Gilligan says. Coincidentally, it also means “value” in Finnish. “It’s serendipity,” Gilligan says.
Arvo
93 Shernhall Street, E17 9HS
Hours:
Tue to Fri 7am–11am, 4pm–9pm
Sat 8am–6pm
Sun 9am–6pm
