POLICE have gone on sauna patrol after a council-run leisure complex was listed as a meeting point in a gay magazine.

Managers at Haslingden Baths held talks with with police after hearing that their sauna, which hosts men-only sessions on Mondays and Fridays, had been listed in the contacts section of a gay men's magazine.

Although bosses at the baths are not aware of any homosexual incidents, police officers are carrying out regular patrols of the health suite.

Signs which have been put up inside the suite state: "Customers are warned that these premises are police patrolled at regular intervals."

The baths, on East Bank Avenue, are owned and managed by Rossendale Borough Council. The health suite, which consists of sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and showers, also holds mixed and women-only sessions.

Baths weekend duty manager Michael Kemp said he was not aware of any homosexual incidents inside the health suite, despite having been told there were suggestions to the contrary in the magazine.

He said: "We heard a rumour that Haslingden Baths' name was down in that sort of magazine, and the sauna was down as the meeting place." "We held a meeting with the police and they suggested the patrols and notices. Another suggestion was to put something in the press to let people know this sort of thing is not going on.

"The regulars that I talk to say there is never anything going on. They are happy that we are trying to do something positive about this."

Mr Kemp said the police had suggested the council take out an advertisement in the magazine to set the record straight. But he said that had not yet been possible because they did not know which magazine the notice had been placed in.

Edenfield ward councillor Jeff Cheetham, a regular at the health suite for five years, said: "I find it quite remarkable that someone should have placed such an advert. When I saw the warning signs, someone told me it was to do with a magazine. But I didn't realise it was something like this - I am not interested in gay magazines.

"I go there every Monday and Friday and I can assure you that if I had seen or heard of anything untoward I would have taken steps to stop it.

"The managers have quite rightly taken action to make sure this sort of thing is stopped before it starts."

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