Luxury Hotel Planned for Bath

Not all of England's new hotels are rising in London: According to ThisIsBath.co.uk, a luxury five-star hotel with its own spa is in the works for Bath, a resort city in southwest England that dates back to Roman times.

Work had reportedly stalled on transforming the grade two listed former Gainsborough Building into a luxury hotel that would have its own access to the city's world-famous hot springs. But now Wessex Water's parent company YTL has taken over the project, and has announced plans to build the country's first natural thermal water hotel spa at the site. Work is due to start next spring and it is hoped that the 98-room five-star hotel will open in 2014.

Combe Hay-based businessman Trevor Osborne, who bought the site in 2004 and had previously planned to develop the hotel himself, will continue to provide advice on the build.