Banya No.1 in Old Street, London, opened in January 2013. I will admit to a little trepidation visiting Banya No.1 for the first time. Images of the near freezing plunge pool haunted me as we arrived, while thoughts of the banya staff (banschiki) lashing my skin with birch branches were also a cause for concern.

There’s a joke the Finns make about the Swedes: they call their saunas “warm rooms”. This is because the Finns aren’t very good at jokes. (Nobody, you’ll note, is insisting Mock the Week has at least one Finn on its panel every week.) It’s also because the Finns think a sauna should be hot. Really

Hardly a week goes by without another Russian themed pop-up event or exhibition appearing in my inbox; this is the problem with signing up to all these events websites, they start making you feel like you have to join in or you’re missing out. If I had the time I could easily be at a different event,

Banya No.1 is London’s first (and currently only) traditional Russian Banya. Whilst the word ‘Banya’ may be unfamiliar to us in the UK, for most Russians, it’s a way of life. Many Russians go to a Banya once a week or more, to socialise, meet friends, and get the relaxing and invigorating Banya treatment. But

Some days are cold and some days are hot… but the best days, involve a banya stop! Recently we asked ourselves this very profound question: what shall we do today? It was a Wednesday that happened to have coincided with Christmas. Us being the non-Christmas observing type, we had to decide on what oh what

Expert: Ganadi, a chap with 16 years’ experience of parenie venik massage. Procedure: Russians refer to banya as their “first doctor” (vodka is the second, garlic the third). I am lying face down in birch leaves while a topless Russian man lashes my back with foliage that’s just come out of an oven. This is