Community / Skerries cinema and spa to go up for auction
EVER wanted to own a cinema, spa, casino and gym on a remote Shetland island? Well, now is your chance.
The Schoolhouse in Skerries is going up for auction on Wednesday (19 February) as owner Chris Harris moves to pastures new.
It will go up for auction in Glasgow with a guide price of £75,000.
Welshman Harris turned the home into something of a local attraction when he moved to Out Skerries in 2016.
Dubbed locally as ‘Crazy Chris’, the entertainer installed a 20-seat cinema in the building – complete with seats from an Odeon in Manchester and a popcorn machine.
Not stopping there, he also created gym facilities in his garden, as well as a spa featuring a hot tub and a Tiki bar.
Elsewhere in the house there is also a casino with a roulette and blackjack table – with estate agent images showing there to be a portrait of Harris hanging above.
Harris previously told Shetland News that he wanted to offer more for locals as well as visitors to Skerries.
“We don’t really have anywhere to go in the evenings,” he said back in 2017.
“We don’t have a bar, we don’t have a gym. When it rains, there’s not really much for them to do. If I can open up my house to tourists and make them feel welcome, then that’s what I should do.”
Skerries – located off the east of the Shetland mainland – has suffered population decline in recent years, with the closure of a salmon farm and also the local school hitting the island group hard.
A few years ago it was thought that the permanent population was around 30-something – a sharp drop from roughly 70 not long before.
The inter-island air service has also stopped, meaning the ferry is the only means of transport to the Shetland mainland.
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