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 small 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 chalybeate spring
The Wells themselves were located at what is now Well Walk, where a small commemorative plaque marks the site of the original chalybeate spring. The water was iron-rich, reputedly medicinal, and bottled for sale across London; the fashion rose and fell but at its height Hampstead was one of the most talked-about leisure destinations in the south of England.
The street plan that survives
The layout of streets in this part of Hampstead still follows the spa-era plan. Flask Walk, Well Walk, New End and Streatley Place form a distinct quarter with a logic that predates the late-Georgian expansion of the village. The narrow lanes were built to serve pedestrians leaving the Long Room (the principal assembly room) and the Wells pump; the pub culture that survives there is a direct descendant of the taverns that fed the spa crowds.
A literary and social scene
The clientele was fashionable and occasionally raffish. Addison and Steele wrote about Hampstead in the Spectator; Dr Johnson drank here; Hogarth depicted the scene in his Harlot's Progress. The spa drew actors, journalists, card-players and the class of London professional for whom a day on the Heath was a plausible substitute for a summer in Somerset. Many of the stories collected in our journey through Hampstead's history have their origin in this period.
Why it faded
The spa faded as London expanded and the roads improved. Cheaper spring waters were found closer to the city; the gentry rediscovered coastal resorts; the 1760s brought a string of cold summers that discouraged outdoor entertainment. By 1800 the Long Room was derelict, the Wells pump had fallen into disuse, and Hampstead had quietly reverted to a country-village role. The quarter retains its Georgian bones, however, and careful eyes can read the original spa geometry in today's street lines.
What to look for on a walk
Start at the plaque on Well Walk. Walk east past Keats Grove to see the ponds that were already being used for bathing in the 1720s (see our ponds guide). Return along Flask Walk for the spa-era pub culture at its most intact; the Flask itself still serves a passable version of what the 1730s Londoner would have drunk. Detour to Burgh House — built in 1703, the town house of the spa's principal physician — for local archive material on the wells.
The afterlife of a spa
Hampstead today trades on its Victorian and Edwardian literary reputation, but the bones are older and more commercial. The present coffee-and-bookshop culture has a surprising amount in common with the 1730s — sociable, outdoorsy, slightly bohemian. For the modern version, see our independent coffee guide and pub shortlist.
## The lost spa
Hampstead's history as a spa town is largely invisible to modern visitors but shaped the village's street pattern and architecture. The medicinal Hampstead Wells spring was discovered in the late 17th century; by 1700, Hampstead was a fashionable minor spa serving London visitors who came for the chalybeate (iron-rich) waters.
The spring rose near the present-day junction of Well Walk and Christchurch Hill. The Wells Tavern (later the Pump Room) was built in 1701 as the central facility — a covered hall where visitors paid for cups of the spring water and took their cure. Concerts, balls, and gambling rooms followed in the surrounding streets.
## What survives
Flask Walk's name comes from the flasks filled at the spring for visitors to take home. The Flask pub still operates roughly where the spa-trade tavern stood, though the current building dates only from 1874.
Well Walk holds several survivors of the spa-era housing. Number 30 was a lodging house for spa visitors. Number 40 — later John Constable's home — was probably built around 1730 for a moderately wealthy spa visitor.
Gardnor House, accessible through the cobbled passage at the eastern end of Flask Walk, is a 1735 Regency square that originated as spa-visitor housing.
## Why the spa collapsed
The spa trade declined sharply in the second half of the 18th century. New, more fashionable spas (Bath, Cheltenham) drew the wealthier visitors away. The chalybeate waters lost their medical credibility as scientific medicine advanced. By 1820 the formal spa operation had effectively ceased; the Pump Room was demolished in 1882.
The village survived because the spa had built up enough infrastructure (housing stock, transport links, a developed retail trade) to support a residential population. Hampstead reinvented itself first as a country retreat, then in the late 19th century as a developed suburb when the railway arrived.
## The walking trail
A 30-minute spa-history walk: start at Hampstead tube, down Flask Walk (cobbled spa-trade frontage), past the Flask pub, along Well Walk to the original spring location, across to Constable's house at number 40, return via Christchurch Hill. The Heath and Hampstead Society's free guide (available at Burgh House) marks the survivors.
