OPINION - Would you have sex at work? Inside London's new kinky co-working space

“An interim space between home, work and Berghain.” That’s how Stück, a new venue in Dalston, describes itself. But what exactly does that mean?Opened by the teams behind Playbody, a party collective, and fetish club Klub Verboten, which calls itself “a provider of contemporary pro-pervert spaces”, it’s only really when knowing these names that it becomes clear that Stück has connections to the kink scene. So, when they talk of a space between the work and play, they’re talking about a co-working space that doubles as a sex club.So Slack channels with a side of screwing, then? Co-founders Karl Verboten and Hanny Amin make it sound less seedy and actually rather wholesome. “Most places where you find human connection and friendship, you also find ketamine,” says Verboten. For these two sober club kids, Stück was born out of a desire for connection lasting beyond the early hours of a hazy weekend. “We wanted to create a space that allows for human connection seven days a week. When you think of the outside world, it’s normal that a local bowling club, for example, has a clubhouse. “It’s so normal that people who unite over a thing, that they have a space,” he says. Stück, then, is positioned as the clubhouse for London’s kink world, where you can find your latex-clad Saturday-night connection working on a pitch deck at 2pm on a Tuesday.But behind the doors of Stück, the lines between work and play are undeniably blurred. The café, which is open to the public, looks like any other beautifully designed space in Hackney offering free wi-fi, with people scattered around on laptops. But next to them on their left is a swing, and on their right is a kind of medical examination bed with stirrups and restraints, looking like something David Cronenberg would dream up.Co-workers with benefitsFor £45 a month, membership opens up a second floor populated by bed-like cushioned blocks and handles on the wall. Read MoreIt also gives people access to “happenings”, such as breathplay workshops or “a day fest for sexual edging and body worship”. There are also plans to open a sauna. For Amin, her dream is that people will “spend the whole day here and have so much different stuff to do that it doesn’t make them bored,” she says.“We’re not a place where someone gets fisted while ordering a coffee”It’s a day-to-night concept that the founders see as missing from the UK landscape, unlike in Europe where cafés become bars with opening hours from 7am to midnight. Verboten feels that in the UK, business restrictions implement blocks to community. “Local authorities over the years became gatekeepers,” he says. “Their mindsets are very dated sometimes. Products need to be categorisable. “They clearly need to understand you’re this and then this applies. You’re a bar and then this condition applies. Creativity and humans just flow in a different way.“We’re not a place where someone gets fisted while ordering a coffee alien community, bringing together the creative freelancers that generally populate the club and kink scenes, and giving them a space in daylight. “But where does sex fit in? And is it ever right to mix work with that much pleasure?The Stück team are coy about the role sex plays in the venue. Verboten says, “We’re not a place where someone gets fisted while ordering a coffee.” Confirming that there are solid boundaries and separation enforced. “This space is not particularly about play or people expressing themselves freely at any given point.” But also says, “We’re leaving the doors open,” adding that a benefit for membership is that “if they want to have some space for themselves, [they can] just be with someone else upstairs.”According to Char Srahan, Wellbeing Manager at PwC, more complex and nuanced considerations need to be taken into account. “It’s less about, is sex near work appropriate? and more what happens when the boundaries and the power structures of work are imported into a sexual environment,” she says. “If freelancers are connecting and someone could potentially give you a really important introduction or commission, what happens when the person you’re saying no to today in a sexual space is actually the person you’re asking for work tomorrow?“The main issue is power and consent when professional relationships, the people who control opportunities, overlap with sexual relationship. “A freely chosen sexual interaction could have professional consequences, so unless there are huge safeguarding rules, explicit consent rules and confidential complaints procedures, it’s just an inherent risk,” says Srahan.Keeping the sex safeAt Klub Verboten, safeguarding protocols are put in place with specialist training in collaboration with LGBTQ+ anti-abuse charity Galop and Safer Sounds, an organisation that works with the Metropolitan Police Service and London Councils on their Welfare And Vulnerability Engagement scheme.There is a formal complaints procedure in place that members can access.“A well-run sex club with explicit rules about consent is probably better than an average office when it comes to sexual harassment”Whereas in this space, where members of the public can gain access to some spaces alongside “vibe checked” members, Verboten is keen to keep “entry requirements or barriers naturally low” in the hope that people “come here and educate themselves”.It’s worth keeping in mind that sexual harassment in the work place remains rife and is an issue that predominantly impacts professional women. It was found by YouGov in 2025 that 58 per cent of women in UK report experiencing some form of sexual harassment at work. That number raises to 62 per cent for women between the ages of 22 and 34; the category you’d expect would be more prevalent in somewhere like Stück. Yet, who knows more about sexual consent than kinksters?As part of Stück’s membership application, everyone is asked to define consent, proving a thorough understanding of it.Even Srahan agrees that in a strange way, a space like Stück could actually be a safe haven. “A well-run sex club with explicit rules about consent is probably better than an average office when it comes to sexual harassment.”