Plans have been submitted to turn Nottingham’s gay sauna, Wolf Spa, into what developers are calling an “air hotel.”
Wolf Spa, which has been closed for a number of years, has been eyed by a developer who wants to create a hotel without staff or kitchen facilities. Documents show that the new owner, Mr B Tiwana, has now submitted plans for a change of use for the building.
Wolf had operated in the city centre from 2017, but was closed by its owner shortly after the COVID-19 pandemnic.
According to planning reports presented to Nottingham City Council, the applicant’s intention is to transform the structure into an “air hotel.” The concept of an air hotel can be described as a hotel that differs from conventional ones by not having a permanent, on-site, full-time staff presence, as stated in the documents.
No kitchens, No full-time staff
The documents also note that the building does not include cooking, catering, or restaurant facilities. This is because such amenities are unnecessary, given the ample availability of cafes, bars, and restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the city centre.
The hotel, however, does employ service staff responsible for day-to-day cleaning, laundry services, general maintenance, and overall management. These services are contracted through an external company, as provided by the applicant.
Before its opening, Wolf Spa underwent a transformation and offered a range of services, including massages, sauna rooms, waxing, manscaping, body hair trimming, body scrubs, body polishing, and various other therapies.
According to planning documents, there is a recognized demand for a new air hotel at this location. The hotel will cater to a diverse range of visitors to the city centre, including parents requiring accommodation when visiting family members such as students, business travellers in need of extended stay options, and tourists exploring the city centre, as stated in the documents.
The hotel is promoted online through a dedicated website, and guests make their reservations and payments electronically. Each customer is assigned a unique access code, exclusively generated for their use, allowing entry to the main entrance, bedroom, and courtyard amenity space. Importantly, this access code is valid only for the duration of their stay, and doors automatically unlock upon departure.
Hope that Wolf might have reopened
Locals in Nottingham had hoped that Wolf might reopen as no official closing down announcement had been made and the building had been kept in good condition over the last couple of years.
A former employee, who wished to remain unnamed, said: “I’ve had few of the former customers ask when the place would be back and running, but the former owner just seems to have gone dark on us all, which is a shame, because it was pretty popular.”
The closure means that Nottingham’s once-thriving gay scene is diminishing and is left with two bars.
The nearest gay sauna to Nottingham is now Zeus in Mansfield.
