Vacant units at the Royal Baths in Harrogate have been a frequent headache for North Yorkshire Council in recent years. 

Dubbed the authority’s “under-performing trophy asset”, the grade two-listed Victorian building was supposed to bolster the council’s commercial investment portfolio.

Instead, as revealed by the Stray Ferret in January, the failure to find tenants in most of the units has cost taxpayers £1.5 million in income.

The council bought the building for £9.5 million in 2018, but a report valued it at £7 million and forecasted an investment return of just 1.64% in 2023 — well below what would be expected from commercial property.

Several of the units have been mainly empty since then, despite upbeat council claims of impending tenants. 

The council told the Stray Ferret in January it had accepted an offer on the former Viper Rooms unit on Parliament Street. But it remains closed, two-and-a-half years on.

To make matters worse, the unit opened by The Wicked Wolf in December has been closed for weeks. 

The Stray Ferret has followed the saga closely over the years. Here we take a closer look at what's going on.

The Wicked Wolf

The Wicked Wolf took over the Montpellier Gardens unit last December but already has shut.

The opening was one of a flurry of new hospitality venues in the town shortly before Christmas.

Owner Kevin Spencer told the Stray Ferret at the time The Wicked Wolf would “continue investing in Harrogate, supporting the nighttime economy and enhancing the already amazing daytime economy”.

But operations ground to a halt around Easter weekend, when bookings were suddenly cancelled due to “major kitchen issues”.

In an email seen by the Stray Ferret, the bar said it was unable to resolve the problems at the time and “had to close”.

Almost two months on, The Wicked Wolf remains shut - and silent.

The Stray Ferret has contacted the bar repeatedly since the closure to ask if it plans to reopen. We have also asked if it is still officially the tenant at the site and whether rent payments are still being made to the council.

We have not received a response to any of our enquiries.

The Stray Ferret has also visited the site numerous times since it closed. It has been shut on each occasion.

An Enterprise van was parked outside the unit on May 27 and people appeared to be taking items from inside the bar and putting them in the van.

The Wicked Wolf has since disabled the booking system on its website and the homepage now reads: “The Wicked Wolf is currently closed”.

The Stray Ferret has contacted North Yorkshire Council – the bar’s landlord – multiple times for updates on the tenancy.

We have asked the council if The Wicked Wolf is still officially the tenant after it previously told us it understood the bar had no intention of ending its tenancy.

However, the council has sent subsequent emails saying its position remained the same.

Viper Rooms

Harrogate has been nightclub-less since Viper Rooms closed suddenly in 2022.

The council repossessed the Parliament Street site from owner Paul Kinsey in December of that year.

The authority has teased the prospect of new life at the site multiple times but it is yet to reopen its doors.

Shortly after bailiffs changed the locks at the site in 2022, the council’s corporate director of resources, Gary Fielding, said there had been “significant interest from potential tenants”.

In March 2023, Mr Fielding told the Stray Ferret an agent had been appointed to “coordinate discussions with potential tenants”, before saying the council had accepted an offer to rent out the unit in February 2024.

When the Stray Ferret asked the authority for an update in January this year, Mr Fielding said:

But little has appeared to change since then.

When The Wicked Wolf closed three months later, the Stray Ferret again asked if any progress had been made.

Mr Fielding reiterated an offer had been received by a prospective tenant, but said there had been a delay in completing the legal agreements.

The council aimed to move the process forward as soon as possible, he added at the time.

The Stray Ferret followed this up last week (May 27), but a spokesperson for the council said its previous statement “still stands”. 

Tourist Information Centre

In February 2024, North Yorkshire Council announced Harrogate’s Tourist Information Centre on Crescent Road was to close permanently.

It relocated to the nearby Royal Pump Room Museum . The council said leasing out the vacant unit could yield between £30,000 and £40,000 in annual rent. But it has been empty since.

Renting out the building was set to save the authority £24,300 a year on service charges, energy supply, maintenance, waste collection, cleaning costs and rates for the unit, a report to councillors said at the time.

The Stray Ferret previously reported ‘To Let’ signs had been put up outside the site last year, with a rental asking price of £40,000 a year, but a tenant is yet to take on the lease and the unit remains empty.

Two Royal Baths units have had permanent tenants in JD Wetherspoons and the Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant. But three units are proving problematic. 

These are difficult economic times and the council's finances are frequently in the news. There is a clear public interest then, in the performance of these units, that were bought with taxpayers' money and should be providing the tax ayer with a better return on the investment.  

The Stray Ferret will continue to provide updates when they become available.