A partnership between two guides.
We point the way. You make them want to stay.
Places We Connect is a curated London directory — not a listing site. We guide newcomers to the saunas, climbing gyms, run clubs, ice baths and padel courts worth going back to, and show each first-timer how to become a regular. Then it is over to the people who run the place — the ones who make them want to come back. This page is for them.
Two guides, one outcome.
We guide the newcomer to the room. We curate what is worth going back to, write the first-timer intel, and frame the visit so a newcomer walks in already wanting to become a regular.
Then you guide them. The six-person sessions, the no-right-or-wrong welcome, the craft of holding a room — the things that make someone come back. That is the part we cannot write for you, and the part we value most.
The directory itself stays independent. A featured placement is clearly marked as paid. The curation is never for sale.
The demand already exists.
Here is what London already searches for, every month:
- “sauna near me”22,200
- “sauna london”5,400
- “padel london”9,900
- “padel near me”40,500
- “padel”, by itself135,000
- “cold plunge london”320
Monthly UK search volume. One Space sits at the top of each of these guides — and that position is not sold in bulk.
Listed · free
Every Space belongs in the directory. A listed Space gets its card, its watercolour and its first-visit intel — at no cost.
- Your Space in the directory
- Curated watercolour illustration
- First-visit intel on your profile
- Links to your website and social
Featured Spotlight · £500 / month
One Space per category holds the top of its guide.
- Top-of-hub placement in your category
- Bespoke watercolour, yours to keep
- Long-form curator essay
- Dedicated Spotlight page and booking link
- Quarterly performance report
One Spotlight per category at a time. By inquiry, not checkout.
Apply for the Spotlight →Founding Partner · £5,000 / year
The first-mover seat.
- Everything in the Spotlight
- Locked rate for the year
- Named in the directory's origin story
- One Founding Partner per category
- A say in how the Spotlight evolves
The seat goes once.
There is no audience to point to yet, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can offer is the position: the first Space to sit at the top of a category London is already searching for.
Join before the category is taken. The Space that takes a category now becomes the one regulars get pointed to — and the one whose own guiding starts to work on a whole category, not just the people already through the door.
How a partnership starts.
- You write to us about your Space.
- Solomon reads it and, if it is a fit, suggests a call.
- If it goes ahead, you are invoiced — no self-serve checkout, no card held.
- We make the watercolour, write the essay, and put you at the top.
Most Spaces will be turned down. That is the point — the directory only works if being in it means something.
Paid placement is clearly marked. Curation is never for sale.
Every Featured Spotlight and Founding Partner is labelled as a paid partnership. The choice of which Spaces make the directory — and which do not — stays with the curator.
Write to us about your Space.
Tell us the category, the Space, and why it is the one people keep coming back to. Solomon reads every application and replies himself.
No self-serve checkout. No Stripe link. A conversation first, and an invoice only if it is a fit.