These Fortified Islands Could Be Yours: Spitbank and No Man’s Fort
Fancy owning a piece of history?
Back in 2024 these two extraordinary fortified islands in the Solent were heading to auction. Spitbank Fort and No Man's Fort had both spent their more recent lives as rather unlikely boutique hotels, complete with bars, restaurants, spas and some fairly spectacular sea views.
They started life rather differently. The forts were part of a chain built in the nineteenth century to defend Portsmouth from a feared French invasion. By the time they were completed the threat had largely passed, earning this great collection of military architecture the slightly unkind nickname 'Palmerston's Follies'.
I think they are wonderful.
There is something about taking a building designed entirely for defence and giving it a completely different life that really appeals to me. All that granite, brick vaulting, tiny windows and military engineering, then somebody comes along and adds bedrooms, bars, hot tubs and a swimming pool.
Spitbank is the smaller of the two, although 'smaller' still means around 33,000 square feet. It became a nine-bedroom hotel, with a restaurant, bars, a wine cave, roof terrace, hot pool, sauna and sun decks.
It feels surprisingly intimate inside considering you are essentially sitting in the middle of the sea inside enormously thick granite walls.
Surely this has Bond villain lair written all over it?
No Man's Fort is on another scale altogether. Around 99,000 square feet spread over four floors, with 23 bedrooms, crew quarters, restaurants, bars, a pub, spa, nightclub and its own helipad.
When I originally found these in 2024 they were about to be auctioned with guide prices of around £1 million each. They both sold that June: Spitbank for £1.01 million and No Man's Fort for £1.12 million.
And that could have been the end of the story, but apparently not.
Spitbank is now in new ownership. By 2025 its owners were carrying out repairs and renovation, with what comes next for the fort still being kept rather intriguingly under wraps.
No Man's Fort has had a slightly more restless time. Its new owner began looking for somebody with a fresh idea to operate it and, by 2026, both leasehold and freehold options were being explored.
So, rather wonderfully, the title of this post hasn't completely expired.
I love places like these. Buildings that have completely outlived the reason they were built, are far too strange to become ordinary, and force you to think about what else they might be.
Hotel? Private retreat? Creative space? Extraordinary venue?
I still rather like the Bond villain idea.
Originally found at The Spaces.
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