News / Wellness
Community sauna eyes major expansion with pilot crowdfunder
A community sauna which started life in a former council car park has set its sights on a major expansion through a crowdfunding campaign.
Bristol Community Sauna transformed an overgrown space behind St Anne’s House in Brislington into a grassroots wellness venue back in 2024, attracting some 14,000 users in its first 18 months.
Now the fast-growing wellness hub has launched a £60,000 crowdfunder to scale up the site, using a new community investment model designed to unlock additional social investment.
Expansion plans include a larger accessible sauna, improved green and social areas and upgraded facilities, especially for winter months.
The grassroots wellness venue has attracted some 14,000 users in its first 18 months – photo: Bristol Community Sauna
The campaign is backed by BBRC (Bristol and Bath Regional Capital) and Crowdfunder UK through a pilot scheme linking community donations with further investment funding.
According to organisers, the approach is designed to tackle a long-standing challenge in blended finance, where social enterprises often struggle to secure the grant funding needed to unlock larger investment deals.
Molly Byrne, partnerships manager at BBRC, said: “What’s exciting about this project is the blending of grassroots impact with a unique investment structure, designed to unlock significantly more funding from early community backing.
“You’ve got the community shaping the vision from the ground, with Bristol Community Sauna’s proven track record and clear impact on people’s lives, backed by a unique approach to investing for long-term, sustainable growth.”
Under the pilot, £20,000 raised through community support unlocks a further £40,000 loan from BBRC, creating a £60,000 funding package for the project.
The rise of community saunas in Bristol has chimed with the wider growth of Britain’s wellness sector in recent years, with unused urban spaces increasingly being repurposed into social wellness venues.
It was a “cultural moment” since Liz Watson and Katie Bracher launched a converted horsebox sauna at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2018, which sparked a nationwide phenomenon.
Community sauna culture has expanded rapidly across the UK, moving beyond the traditional spa model and into more accessible, community-led spaces.
Bristol has well and truly embraced the trend, which even led to a spa trail in January.
Bristol Community Sauna has gained a following through its inclusive approach, including wheelchair-friendly ramps, silent sessions and dedicated sessions for trans and queer communities.
For many users, Bristol Community Sauna has become more than a wellness space, helping reduce isolation, support mental health and create a sense of connection with fellow users.
Graeme Roy, head of partnerships at Crowdfunder UK, described the initiative as “a really exciting new collaborative funding model”.
“Working in partnership with BBRC, we’ve created a mechanism where community donations directly unlock loan capital,” he said. “We believe this way of blending community finance and social investment is a great way to protect and build community assets for the future.”
Bristol Community Sauna started life in a former council car park behind St Anne’s House in Brislington – photo: Matthew Whitford
BBRC, which has mobilised £72m over the last ten years, has set out its ambition to attract £1bn of impact investment into the region over the next ten years.
The crowdfunder can be accessed at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/bristol-community-sauna-expansion
Main photo: Bristol Community Sauna
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