Brighton sauna granted drink licence

A men only sauna in Brighton has been granted a licence to serve alcohol and to host live music.

The Brighton Sauna, in Grand Parade, Brighton, can serve drinks from 11am to 1am from Sundays to Thursdays and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

A Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel at Hove Town Hall today (Friday 10 February) agreed the application and attached a set of conditions.

The conditions included using CCTV cameras and, on Friday and Saturday nights, employing door staff.

Alcoholic drinks cannot be taken out of the café, kitchen or lounge area into the saunas.

And no spirits or super-strength beer, cider or wine can be sold.

Paul Gray and Adam Bailey, the sauna’s owners, said that they would probably host low-key live music events just once a month. The licence permits live music from 6pm to midnight every day.

Sussex Police raised concerns about whether the heat of a sauna and alcoholic drinks were a good mix.

The owners said that many other saunas served drink in Britain and especially elsewhere in Europe.

A letter from Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett cited two deaths – one at the Bronx in Sheffield and one at the Brighton Sauna – although no blame was attached to either sauna.

He said that “a heavily intoxicated” man – 59-year-old Alan Lander – drowned in a jacuzzi at the Bronx in 2010 while three times the drink-drive limit.

On Friday 16 December, Mr Bartlett said, another 59-year-old man died, this time at the Brighton Sauna.

He collapsed in a private cabin but Sussex Police said that his death was not suspicious. An inquest is not expected to take place.

The sauna was known under previous owners as the Oasis, the Eden, the Garden of Eden and Refresh.