Spa 1877 Sheffield: Historic Turkish baths on sale for cut-price £595,000 after reopening falls through

Spa 1877 on Victoria Street, just off Glossop Road, was scheduled to reopen in spring this year under a new operator - more than two years after it closed suddenly in September 2019. But it failed to open then after a legal dispute broke out between the building’s long-term leaseholder Steve Wilkinson, who previously ran the venue, and Town and Country Holistic Spas and Hotels Ltd, which was due to take over there after being handed the keys.

After the spa first closed in 2019, with Mr Wilkinson blaming bus gates on Glossop Road for driving down revenue, it was put on the market with a £695,000 price tag. Three years later, it is now being advertised for sale through Fleurets with a £595,000 asking price.

The listing states that there is a 75 per cent ‘vendor loan’ available to ‘suitably experienced parties’. The property is described as a ‘superb’ spa facility, measuring 6,500 sq ft and including a beauty therapy area with 11 treatment rooms, and a Turkish baths with seven sensory areas.

Spa 1877 still has a solid 4.0 out of five rating on Tripadvisor, though its score was dragged down after its closure by a number of poor reviews from customers who said they had unused vouchers for which they had yet to receive a refund. Town and Country had said it would offer a Turkish bath experience to anyone with a proof of purchase made through the previous operator as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Both Mr Wilkinson and Town and Country have declined to go into detail about the nature of the legal dispute, though Town and Country said recently it was unlikely the spa would reopen ‘any time soon’, while Mr Wilkinson said he was confident it would be reopened again soon but not by Town and Country. The premises were part of the Glossop Road Baths and are said to have the oldest Victorian Turkish baths in the world.