L360’s Evelyn Richards ventures underground to assess whether Aire Ancient Baths merits the hype.
It’s a cold, wet Tuesday evening — the sort that makes London feel particularly unforgiving — yet I’m floating weightlessly in a warm salt bath, lit entirely by flickering candlelight. Somewhere above, buses groan and commuters hurry home.
Down here, time slows to a hush. Inspired by the bathing traditions of Rome, Aire Ancient Baths takes the classic ritual of communal soaking and gives it a quietly luxurious, thoroughly modern twist.
With outposts in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Copenhagen and Spain, Aire has built a reputation for transporting stressed city dwellers into another world entirely — and the London version may be its most atmospheric yet.
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A hidden Georgian gem
Found within a beautiful Georgian townhouse near Covent Garden once inhabited by Peter Pan author J M Barrie, Aire’s layout feels deliberately theatrical. Treatment rooms sit upstairs, while the baths themselves are hidden below, carved into dramatic double-height brick vaults in the basement. Smiley staff glide through the space with calm efficiency, ensuring everything runs smoothly without ever breaking the serene spell.
From the moment you arrive, the experience is seamless. You’re handed a robe and slippers, then guided down a candlelit staircase into the bathhouse, which previously served as a wine cellar. The air is warm, faintly scented with orange blossom and sandalwood, and reverently quiet.
Silence, steam and soaking
Phones are banned, children aren’t allowed and guest numbers are tightly controlled. The result is blissfully rare in London: genuine peace. You drift between pools — tepid, hot, ice-cold — sharing them with just a handful of fellow bathers, most of whom respectfully obey the discreet ‘silence’ signs lining the brick walls.
There’s a hydrotherapy pool, a salt-rich flotarium for floating and a steam room so enveloping it feels almost cinematic. Rather than the pastel tones typical of modern spas, Aire leans into a moodier aesthetic: unfinished walls, worn books, bare floorboards and hundreds of real candles casting soft shadows everywhere. Certainly the most Romantic setting I’ve ever been in.
Read more: ‘I swapped the pub for a cold plunge on a Saturday night — and I’d do it again’
The Roman ritual
The bathing circuit is inspired by Roman tradition, designed to revitalise both body and mind through contrasts in temperature. I began in the tepidarium (36C), moved to the caldarium (40C), lingered in the vaporium — arguably the best steam room in the city — before braving the bracing frigidarium cold plunge at 14C.
A jet-powered balneum followed, then my personal favourite: the flotarium, where salt-dense water lifts you effortlessly into stillness.
Is it worth it?
This isn’t a budget spa. Entry starts north of £100, with treatments and indulgent extras quickly pushing the price higher. But as a beautifully executed escape from London life, Aire Ancient Baths feels like money well spent.
For more information or to book, visit beaire.com
