Prior to visiting Slomo, I was resistant to the concept of a sauna and ice bath situation in London. In Austria, where my mum comes from, it makes sense given the setting and climate to surrender your body following a long day of skiing or frolicking in the mountains to the clutches of alternate hot and cold. I suspect it’s much the same in Scandinavia, but in London, where the pop up has returned to Kings Cross for a second year until the March 2, I’m not so sure.
The founders Rob and Josie da Bank refer to it as, “a soothing retreat from bustling city life.” Though I wonder if Londoners will want to visit this outdoor enclosure to huddle together in saunas sweating profusely? It is, after all, bad enough to be wedged next to a dressed and unheated fellow stranger on the tube; is this really something we city folk want? And when will they do it — during lunch breaks? And who will be intrepid enough to fling themselves into the coldest of the ice plunge baths?
