When I was a child in the 60's and 70's here in Scotland we had public bath houses. There were days for men and days for women, I used to go with my mother. There were no big pools but a lot of cubicles off a big main room, the women could sit in towels on benches and chat or go and soak in a tub in a cubicle. There was often a Turkish steam bath and a a lady who would massage you on a big stone table, and a row of showers too. Quite often there would be a public swimming pool in the same building but that was separate, boys and girls etc swimming together and we wore bathing costumes. Sometimes my mother would let me go swimming so she had more time to talk to her friends in the bathing area, I preferred this because listening to a bunch of women gossip is very boring when you're eight. Then I'd go round to the bath area and get a shower. We didn't have a proper bathroom at home in the 60's, just a toilet and sink and a small boiler thing in the kitchen for washing dishes. Last time I went to the bath house was in the late 80's because the Turkish steam bath was still there, it was very beautiful with lots of ornate tiles so it was preserved.
