Located in the Green Quarter and just a short walk from Victoria station, Kontrast is a sauna and ice bath café owned by Jamie Smith who was inspired by his travels to Taiwan, Japan and Scandiavia to bring the sauna culture to Manchester.
We went down to see if contrast therapy and coffee are a combo that goes well.
We went down to see if contrast therapy and coffee are a combo that goes well.
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00:00I went to Contrast, a new sauna and ice bath plunge cafe located in the Green Quarter.
00:08Contrast Therapy is when you go from one extreme temperature to another, and this place has
00:12it all for you to try.
00:14They have two traditional Finnish saunas and a red light sauna, as well as three plunge
00:20pools ranging from 3 degrees to 12 degrees.
00:25I spoke to owner Jamie Smith about the concept of Contrast.
00:29After being to Japan and Taiwan and seeing what happens in Scandinavia, I just really
00:34like the culture there and how it brings people together, and now it's such a big part of
00:38the social fabric, and wanting to bring that to Manchester to add a little bit of that
00:43into it is really what I'm interested in.
00:45The saunas are really good for relaxing your muscles, really good for having a chat with
00:50your friends if you're in there, ice baths are really good for the immune system and
00:54really good for reducing inflammation, and together they're really good at boosting
00:58your mood and reducing stress.
01:02I partnered with Manchester Mind so that we can donate 50% of our bookings to them for
01:07our opening two weeks.
01:09This is to show our commitment to mental health, and that's kind of what the saunas and ice
01:14baths are about as well, just trying to get people to feel better about themselves and
01:18get them out of the plunge.
01:20Contrast will open its doors to the public Friday the 25th of October.
01:26I'm Poppy Dipnall, reporting for Manchester World.