North Yorkshire Council has said it’s still working towards a sale of Ripon’s historic Spa Baths — almost two years after a preferred bidder was chosen.

The Grade II-listed baths was the last of its kind to open in England but was put on the market by the now-abolished Harrogate Borough Council due to the construction of the new Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lanes.

After 117 years of service to Ripon, the baths closed for good in November 2021.

A year earlier in October 2021, Ripon-based Sterne Properties was selected as the preferred bidder by Harrogate Borough Council but a deal had not been struck by the time North Yorkshire Council took over the process in April this year.

Sterne Properties has plans to strip out the building to create a new hospitality facility for the city.

Ripon City Council nominated the baths as an asset of community value which gave it a window to make a bid but council leader Andrew Williams said it could end up being “very complicated and very risky financially” so it backed the Sterne Properties proposals instead.

Read more:

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North Yorkshire Council declined to say why the process is taking so long and how much the proposed sale was worth when asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But the baths were previously put up for sale by Harrogate Borough Council in 2008 with a £3.3m price tag. It was later withdrawn following a community campaign.

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of resources, Gary Fielding, said:

“Sterne Properties Ltd was selected as the preferred purchaser for this vacant asset because of its positive plans for the future of the former Ripon Spa Baths site.

“We are continuing to work constructively with Sterne Properties to complete the purchase.

“As it is a commercial transaction, the value and terms of the purchase remain confidential.”

Ripon-based development and investment company Sterne Properties has reaffirmed its commitment to regenerate the city’s historic Spa Baths.

Last June, the Stray Ferret revealed the company was acquiring the building from the then Harrogate Borough Council for an undisclosed sum.

But negotiations have taken longer than expected and Harrogate Borough Council was abolished at the end of last month and replaced by the new North Yorkshire Council.

Company director Robert Sterne said:

“This is a complicated site and obtaining planning for it will be a long process, but we remain 100 percent committed to our hospitality-based regeneration proposals.

“We look forward to presenting our proposals to Ripon City Council.”

In September 2021, the city council successfully applied to have the Edwardian baths building listed as an asset of community value by Harrogate Borough Council. But at last night’s full council meeting, members voted unanimously  to no longer pursue any future ambitions for its own development of the site.

With its track record of developing buildings for the city’s leisure, hospitality and retail sectors – including Curzon Cinema, Claro Lounge and Halls of Ripon – Sterne Properties feels well-equipped to take on the challenge of Spa Baths’ renaissance.

The company has had success in returning redundant properties, such as the former NatWest Bank building next to Ripon Town Hall and an empty furniture store on North Street, into destinations that add value to the city’s offer.

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Historical photos have given a glimpse into the opening of Ripon Spa Baths 117 years ago ahead of the building being stripped out later this year.

The images show the spa baths in its full glory when it opened in 1905 and paint a contrasting picture of the current state of the venue which has suffered from years of neglect and damage.

Ripon-based Sterne Properties has revealed the photos as part of its plans to strip out the spa before giving it a new lease of life and community use in what will mark a new phase in the building’s rich history.

The last English spa to be opened, the baths were originally served by spa water pumped from Aldfield, four miles away.

Corridor of Ripon Spa Baths.

The opening ceremony was held on October 24, 1905, and it is still the only spa to have been opened by a member of the Royal Family, Princess Henry of Battenberg.

The swimming pool to the rear of the original building was added in the 1930s and has since hosted many happy memories across generations of families.

Historic images released by the developer of some of the baths.

The building’s time as a much-loved leisure venue came to an end last year, though, when it was closed down by Harrogate Borough Council ahead of the opening of Ripon’s new Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre, named after the city’s Olympic diving hero.

Looking to the future, exactly what the spa baths will be used for remains unknown.

Ripon Spa Baths at its opening 117 years ago.

Sterne Properties said it must first understand what it is working with and the developers have examined photographs and historic records to see how the building has changed over time.

Its proposals have been backed by Ripon Civic Society, whose chairman Christopher Hughes said in a letter: 

“The society is in total support of this application.

“A visit by some of our members in 2021 revealed the prospect that more recent works are likely to have hidden original work.

“This will be important knowledge for the applicant to understand before further proposals are developed.”

Read More:

• Ripon’s Spa Baths close after 116 years
• Ripon developer plans community regeneration of Spa Baths

The Inn Collection Group, has begun redevelopment work on Ripon’s Spa Hotel and aims to have it completed by next spring.

A spokesperson for the company, confirmed in a brief statement this morning:

“We recently appointed STP Construction to redevelop the Ripon Spa Hotel, and work began this month and we’re looking complete it by spring 2023.”

The news follows hot on the heels of Sterne Properties’ announcement that it plans to return Ripon’s Spa Baths to its former Edwardian splendour, having purchased the Grade II listed building for an undisclosed sum from Harrogate Borough Council.

The Spa Hotel, which was in the ownership of the Hutchinson family for decades, opened a year after the baths and the two, nestling alongside Spa Gardens and Spa Park, were key elements of Ripon’s stylish spa quarter.

The elegant Edwardian building shut at the start of the covid pandemic in March 2020 and was subsequently put on the market

The 40-bedroom hotel, set in six acres of gardens, features public rooms including a ballroom, terrace bar and self-contained Turf Tavern Bar Bistro.

At the time of purchasing the property in June 2021, The Inn Collection Group said that a major, but sympathetic refurbishment would be carried out to enhance and repurpose the venue and bring it in line with The Inn Collection Group’s award-winning ‘Eat, Drink, Sleep and Explore’ brand.

Company managing director Sean Donkin, added:

“The Ripon Spa is a fantastic addition to our portfolio of properties. It has huge potential which we have an exciting vision to realise. We’re looking forward to starting that journey while expanding the group’s footprint in Yorkshire.”

“The Inn Collection Group excels at revitalising classic, landmark sites like The Ripon Spa and realising their full potential with significant capital spend, detailed planning and care to retain the unique, historic character of landmark sites such as this.”

The fast-expanding Northumberland-headquartered group has numerous hotels in the north and has been steadily adding to its Yorkshire portfolio, with the Spa Hotel joining The Dower House in Knaresborough and George Hotel  in Harrogate as recent acquisitions.

Read more:

• The Inn Collection Group purchases Ripon’s Spa Hotel
• Plan to return Ripon’s Spa Baths to its former glory

Ripon-based investment and development company Sterne Properties is in the process of acquiring the city’s historic Spa Baths from Harrogate Borough Council for an undisclosed sum.

In an exclusive interview with the Stray Ferret, company director Robert Sterne, said:

“It is our intention to restore the Grade II listed building to its former glory, when it was the centrepiece of the city’s spa quarter.

“Turning the clock back to 1905, it started life as a leisure and hospitality attraction, designed exclusively for the richer members of society, but our proposed hospitality-based regeneration of the building will make it fit for the modern world and open to all.

“Through a painstaking and detailed refurbishment, working closely with architect Andrew Burningham of AB Architecture, the spa complex will be returned to its days of Edwardian elegance.”

Sterne Properties has ambitious plans to refurbish the Grade II listed building.

Ornate and classical features, originally designed to attract well-heeled Edwardians to take spa treatments, will be seen once more in their full splendour and will be accessible to the people of Ripon and visitors to the city.

With its expertise in developing buildings for the city’s leisure, hospitality and retail sectors – including Curzon Cinema, Claro Lounge and Halls of Ripon – Sterne Properties feels well-equipped to take on the challenge of Spa Baths’ renaissance.

Mr Sterne said:

“We have had success in returning redundant properties such as the former NatWest Bank building next to Ripon Town Hall and an empty furniture store on North Street, into destinations that add value to the city’s offer.

“At this stage, we are considering a number of different community-focused uses.

“The initial planning application that we have lodged with Harrogate Borough Council, in the run up to completion of our acquisition of the building, is for a careful ‘strip back’ which will reveal design features that have been either covered up or out of sight since the 1930s, when the spa was re-purposed to accommodate a public swimming pool. “

Mr Sterne added:

“Our thinking is guided by knowledge of Ripon’s people who, like myself, learnt to swim at Spa Baths and see it, with affection, as part of their own and the city’s heritage.

“We believe that by working alongside all interested parties, including the city council and civic society, we can, subject to all relevant planning permissions, deliver an enhanced community asset, with new features, such as a conservatory, that we can all enjoy and take pride in.”

Martin Sterne, who set up the family-run property business in 1990s, added:

“We aim to make our mark on our home city by investing in it and creating developments that leave a lasting legacy.”

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