FROM OLYMPIC DREAMS TO COMMUNITY REALITY

Summer 2012: While the world watched Olympic athletes compete, something remarkable opened in Barking. The Barking Bathhouse - described by The New York Times as "a responsible, ethical and desirable initiative…a pioneering project for Barking."

It ran for four months and attracted over 5,300 visitors. When it closed that October, most Olympic legacies would have ended there.

This one was just beginning. The team who had brought wellness to the community wasn't ready to let it go.

Within a month, Bath Haus Library Spa opened in Barking Library, where community wellness and professional excellence came together. For eight years, it flourished.

Then the pandemic hit. Instead of giving up, the vision adapted - rebranded as Heal Studio, moving through various locations across Barking, holding onto what mattered most: accessible wellness for the community.

In 2024, Heal Studio came home to the library building where it all began. This time, it's permanent.

Today, Heal Studio is a collective where independent therapists and practitioners work together under one roof. Massage therapy, yoga, and sauna services. Partnerships with community organisations, GP practices through pop-up clinics, local businesses, community centres, and events bring wellness into the heart of Barking life.

Thirteen years after that Olympic summer, the legacy lives on.

Heal Studio

Born from the Barking Bathhouse 2012