Wirral is home to the oldest gay sauna in the North West.
Situated between a printing shop and a spar “away from the hustle and bustle of it all”, Dolphin Sauna, can be found in New Brighton, Wallasey.
Customers step off the street and into the discreet entrance where they wait for a staff member to let them in after pressing the bell. Once greeted and admission - £12 entry or £8 for students - is paid, they are given a locker key and a complimentary towel. What happens next is up to the individual but manager Andrew Reynolds revealed to the ECHO that the jacuzzi is a good place to start.
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The 50-year-old, who lives in Oxton, Birkenhead, told the ECHO : “Nobody seems to want to admit that they go to these types of places but they do. It’s obvious they do because we are busy and have been able to run for so long making us the oldest gay sauna in the North West. When people come in realise they were hung up over nothing but prior to coming people have snotty ideas of what a sauna is.”
Andrew has run the business for 17 years now after the previous heterosexual owner concluded it wasn’t the right fit for him. Before this, the venue was open for 20 years under the management of others. Since 2005, Andrew has adapted the venue to keep up with the rise in dating apps - notably Grindr - and more recently to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing cost of living crisis.
The former airline flight attendant said: “I fell into the business by chance really. I was drinking with a friend and a straight guy who owned the venue at the time, because of his sexuality he didn’t understand the ins and outs of it really. I wanted to get out of my old job so I worked there for a few months before I ended up buying it. It wasn’t what I dreamt of doing when I was a little boy, trust me. But, I saw its potential and its room for growth. It needed money and modernising.”
Now, the venue, which promotes safe sex, is decked out with a jacuzzi, steam room, private rooms and a TV area where porn is played. Particular dates throughout the month are dedicated to certain groups within the LGBTQ+ community - for example, every Saturday the venue acts as a welcoming space for the trans community.
Regardless of its facilities, Andrew said one reason why customers keep returning is the company’s “relaxed atmosphere”. He added: “There are a lot of people who come who struggle with their sexuality. It’s quite obvious sometimes with those types of people why they are here but we offer a counselling service through Sahir House - Liverpool’s oldest LGBTQ+ charity - to offer help if needed or even just to have a chat in general.”
Andrew appreciates it isn’t your usual 9-5 Monday - Friday job that people expect a 50-year-old to have but for now, he doesn’t see an end date for the venue under his management in the near future.
He said: “I’m very confident in my job, I don’t tell people I work as a teacher or a vet or a socially respectable role, I tell them I own a gay sauna. As years have gone by, no one seems bothered by it at all, if anything they are intrigued and wish more people were more open about sex.
“Having said that since buying the venue in 2005, people aren’t as clandestine. We are actively involved in the community and the neighbourhood. Along the line of shops, we all make sure each of our fronts is tidy and our venue has been there for longer than some of the neighbours so they knew what they buying into. We never get any grief thankfully.”
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