Romantics and rock stars are promised the most ‘beguiling and luxurious’ boutique accommodation when it opens in York on Thursday.

Costing from £150 to £450 a night, the Impossible Motel offers 17 ‘Zen like uber cool’ accommodation options in St Helen’s Square.

Manchester-based Tokyo Industries have spent £2.5m on the motel and related bar in the historic Grade II-listed building that was once the birthplace of Terry’s Chocolate Orange and the home of York County Savings Bank.

The Impossible Motel, which has created 40 jobs, will complement the successful Impossible Restaurant and WonderBar entertainment space which opened in 2020.

The development is spread across four floors and aims to showcase the heritage of the 200-year-old building.

There are urban basement rooms, luxurious petite hotel style rooms and some fabulous suite options with private roof terraces and Jacuzzis, said to be ‘the only ones in York.’

This modern vs historic blended design aims to set pulses racing and provide a comfortable new address right on the doorstep of York’s most visited attractions.

The Motel encompasses a wide range of accommodation styles, including 5 subterranean rooms with original Roman paving. The original bank vaults and post office rooms of the former bank have also been converted into modern experience rooms with many of the original features still in place.

Moving up a couple of floors, are the high-end suites with roof top star gazing terraces and hot tubs overlooking the roof tops of York.

On the ground floor, the Motel has its own cocktail bar and restaurant, nicknamed Penelope’s. boasting vintage pink décor, foliage, and florals. Providing afternoon tea’s, champagne, and canapes, it promises to give a secret garden experience with twists and turns along the way.

A carefully curated cocktail menu has been designed to tantalise taste buds, from classic cocktails, signature serves and sharing cocktails that you will certainly return for.

Chris Bateson, Operations Director for Tokyo Industries said: “This project has been 2 years in the making for us, converting a 200-year-old Bank into a Modern-day experiential boutique motel whilst maintaining the buildings original and amazing aesthetics has been a challenging but rewarding project.

“We are excited to be able to finally open our doors to the public just in time for Christmas. Impossible Motel will be opening its doors to the public on Thursday 8th December.”

The Motel, named because of the ‘irony’ that you cannot drive there, forms phase 2 of Tokyo Industrie’s multi-million redevelopment of the site. Phase one was the bar and restaurant, with a Phase 3, featuring rooftop terraces and a ‘speakeasy’ was recently refused planning approval from City of York Council.

Chris added this final scheme would go for ‘reconsultation’ and a further planning application.

Bookings at The Impossible Motel are open at: www.impossiblemotel.com or by calling 01905- 500001.