The Studio, the Swansea building once known as Studio 95, is up for sale after its short life as an affordable hostel, coffee shop and bar came to an end. The former Mansel Street property, which reopened in 2023 as a £20-a-night place to stay, has now closed and is being marketed by Prime Property Auctions with an opening bid of £315,000.

For years, the site had a very different reputation. Studio 95 previously housed what was described as a gentlemen's club offering massages to paying customers, before Michael Border of TIFA property transformed it into The Studio. The revamped building featured six rooms made up of box bunks, with the spaces kept under the names play, lemon, blue, gold, VIP and studio. It is now listed as a vacant six-room, 27-bed HMO/hostel in Swansea.

The auction listing says the property includes an entrance, a bar and social area, a storage room and six bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, and says it is ready to be used as a fully functional HMO/hostel. It also argues the building could generate strong returns, saying rooms renting at £70 per night in the area could bring in £482,895 annually at a 70% occupancy rate. Prime Property Auctions said the property is in a sought-after area with high foot traffic, good amenities and transport links, and that it has been priced to ensure a swift sale.

The sale matters because it marks the end of one of Swansea city centre's more unusual recent reinventions. Border had tried to turn the building into a low-cost hospitality business in the middle of the city, but the venture has not lasted. The closure also leaves the property back on the market as a ready-made hostel at a time when city centre spaces continue to be repurposed for food, drink and short-stay trade, including moves such as Nando's set to open at Swansea's Parc Fforestfach as fried chicken demand grows.

Border's separate plans for Swiss Cottage at Singleton Park have also stalled. He outlined a cafe-restaurant, a street food kitchen, an external serving area for drinks and ice cream, and community activities for the site in 2023, but has since surrendered the lease. Swansea Council said it remains committed to finding a future for the Swiss Cottage building. For now, The Studio's future will be decided by the market, not the makeover that briefly gave it a new life.