History & Heritage
Hampstead Lost Village: The Spa Quarter That Time Forgot
Beatrice Thornton
17 April 2026 · 7 min read
In the 18th century Hampstead rivalled Bath as a fashionable spa resort. The wells that brought the crowds have long since dried up but traces survive.
Before the Underground made Hampstead a desirable commuter suburb it was a destination in its own right, a spa town perched on the hill north of London drawing Londoners who could not afford the journey to Bath or Tunbridge Wells. At its peak in the 1730s Flask Walk rang with the sound of fiddles and the clinking of chalybeate water glasses.
The Wells themselves were located at what is now Well Walk where a small commemorative plaque marks the spring. The layout of streets in this part of Hampstead still follows the spa era plan with Flask Walk Well Walk and New End forming a distinct quarter.
The clientele was fashionable and occasionally raffish. Steele and Addison wrote about Hampstead Dr Johnson drank here and Hogarth depicted the scene. The spa faded as London expanded and the roads improved but the quarter retains its Georgian bones.
Written by
Beatrice Thornton
Beatrice is a food writer and former restaurant critic who moved to Hampstead after falling in love with its independent café culture. She writes about the best places to eat, drink, and linger in North London, with a particular weakness for a well-made flat white and a slab of Victoria sponge.
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