Slough: Thunderbirds-themed hotel could be sold off

The Thunderbirds-themed hotel honours the show's creator Gerry Anderson and was opened last year

A cash-strapped council is planning to sell off a Thunderbirds-themed hotel it opened last year in a bid to help solve its financial woes.

Slough Borough Council told officers it was preparing to sell the 152-room Moxy Hotel in the town centre.

The council is currently selling off a raft of its assets in order to reduce its £760m borrowing debt and fill a £479m blackhole.

The hotel is a tribute to the show's creator Gerry Anderson.

A Thunderbirds movie was filmed on the Slough Trading Estate in the 1960s.

The hotel was developed and delivered by Slough Urban Renewal, a partnership between the local authority and construction company Morgan Sindall.

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation TV series Thunderbirds was first broadcast in 1965

Councillors sitting on Thursday's cabinet sub-committee for asset disposals heard most of the preparation work to sell the hotel had been completed.

It was not made clear if the neighbouring Novus Apartments, which consists of 64 flats and is also owned by the council, will go to auction as well.

Members also heard the council had received an offer for the bus warehouse behind the railway station, but it was not revealed how much the offer was for.

The council heard a number of small properties were to also go to auction in the new year.

'Progressing well'

The 312-home Stoke Wharf was still progressing for sale but the council was waiting for the Canal and Rivers Trust to obtain permission from the Charity Commission to sell their stake in the scheme.

The sell off the former Akzo Nobel site, which was earmarked for 1,000 homes, was also "progressing well", the council said, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Four out-of-borough assets had been either sold off or a transaction would be made in the coming days, it added.

Council leader James Swindlehurst said the sales could generate £150m by mid-next year, which was a "significant over delivery" in their budget requirements.