Plans to create new sauna and wellness centre in seaside town come after shock closure

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to create a new sauna and wellness centre in a seaside town have been handed in to a local council.

If approved they could see the new centre created close to the entrance of the town in a mixed-use development off the Portway, Porthcawl.

The building is currently home to a Domino’s Pizza outlet and tanning salon as well as office spaces.

The proposal was submitted to the council in February 2026 for the site located close to the Hillsboro car park, and just a stone’s throw away from the town’s Sandy Bay Beach.

Developers say they are requesting a change of use to part of the ground floor from offices to a sauna and wellness centre, complete with a sauna, ice baths and shower facilities.

It is noted that while there will be “minor internal layout alterations” at the site, there will be no external alterations made to the property.

It also added that while planning permission has been granted for the first floor to be converted into four residential apartments, this has not yet been implemented and is not currently intended to be implemented.

The plans for the new facility will now go before the council’s planning department for a decision in the coming months.

Its submission comes just weeks after a mobile sauna located on Rest Bay was forced to close temporarily after the council rejected a retrospective planning application for it to operate there.

The council refused the application on the grounds that it was “unacceptable in principle”.

Owners of the popular Hikitalo sauna said they were “heartbroken” and would look to appeal the local authority’s decision for the the idyllic site overlooking the sea.