The raid on the premises in lower High Street was the result of more than two months' work by a team of 20 detectives and Operation Gemini officers. It was launched following neighbours' complaints about what was going on behind the anonymous shop front.
At 12.26pm yesterday, a plain-clothes officer, giving a false name Stephen Dixon, made an appointment and went through the open door into the pale-green waiting room. A group of officers huddled hidden waiting for the signal to go in as he knocked on the internal pine door. Moments later, passers-by watch stunned as two women, one dressed in a blonde wig, silver-sequinned top and short black skirt fled barefoot through a back door and along King Street. Uniformed officers chased the pair up the road.
At 12.33pm the women, a 20-year-old and 39-year-old, were led back to the shop and allowed to get properly dressed before being taken away for questioning. Police then smashed through an interior door and entered a red and peach-painted waiting room. One man, who was in a state of undress, was arrested and questioned as officers began to search for cash, appointment books and condoms. He was later released without charge.
Meanwhile, another team of eight from the county force's Operation Support Group carried out a synchronised raid on the homes of two women from Newport in south Wales. A 40-year-old woman and a younger woman were arrested there and brought to Cheltenham for questioning. They were still being questioned today on suspicion of being concerned in the management of a disorderly house. The other women have been bailed until the new year pending further inquiries.
One bystander, who asked not to be named, said: "This place has been a nuisance for months. The door is always ajar and we have had cabs pulling up at all hours dropping people off. It has brought down the reputation of the whole area." A trader said "I wouldn't like people to think the Lower High Street is a den of iniquity but we rarely heard or saw anything from the place. When they opened up they said it was an aromatherapy centre and we took it at face value."
Neighbours had complained of men knocking on their doors as they searched for the premises, which are advertised in the national press as a massage parlour. Sue Larkman, Co-ordinator of the Cheltenham Centre for the Unemployed, based in the Lower High Street Neighbourhood Resource Centre opposite, said: "I am very pleased the police are now doing something about this."
Detective Sergeant Bob Heywood, who co-ordinated the raid codenamed Operation Greyhound, said: "This operation was a response to complaints from residents and traders. We want people to know that we will not tolerate this kind of activity in Cheltenham." A police spokeswoman said: "The warrant was executed after complaints about activity at this address. Three of the females who have been arrested are from South Wales and one from Coventry."
Last month 20 detectives swooped on the building in Cheltenham's Lower High Street and arrested four women following complaints from neighbouring shops. A man in a state of undress was also arrested in the massage parlour and later released without charge following the police action codenamed Operation Greyhound.
The parlour is now back in business and today it emerged the premises are owned by Corpus Christi college in Oxford, whose famous ex-students include former government health minister William Waldegrave. When an Echo reporter called at the anonymous shop the front door was open. Inside, after ringing the bell to a second door a blonde woman offered and the reporter a "basic service" for £55. When the woman was photographed a scuffle ensued and the reporter was chased up the lower high-street by a 6 foot 2 inch dark-haired man.
One shop neighbour who asked not to be named said: "Operation Greyhound failed from the start. Two days after the raid the punters came back. We have had the same steady stream of men going in and out at all hours." It is unclear whether the two women arrested in December will face charges. The women running the business are thought to be from Wales.
A member of staff at Bayley Donaldson Estate Agents confirmed the company managed the premises on behalf of Corpus Christi and that the rent was paid until the end of January. Domestic bursar at Corpus Christi Colin Holmes declined to comment on the matter. A spokesman for Cheltenham police said: "It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage. If anyone has any further information contact Cheltenham police on 01242-521321 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555111."
Richard Wright of Bayley Donaldson's, which handles the property said: "We are selling it." He said the asking price was £60,000 and the firm had received an acceptable offer from an individual. "We hope to exchange contracts by the end of the month and complete during May."
Mr Wright would not reveal the buyer's identity, but added: "he is nothing to do with the people who were there before." It is not clear what the building will be used for, although some mix of residential and business use is likely. The building is part of the estate and left to the town by Richard Pate. It is owned by Corpus Christi college at Oxford University.
Richard Wright, of Bayley Donaldson, which handles the property as part of the estate left to the town by Richard Pate, said: "their occupation is well and truly over."
Police have not charged any of the four women arrested when they raided the parlour during Operation Greyhound, although the investigation is still ongoing. Shoppers watched in amazement as two scantily-clad women fled as police smashed down the front door.
Mr Wright said he let the shop to two women, who paid £6,000 a year rent, in April last year. He said he was unaware of the potential use they had in mind. He said: "As soon as I heard about the police action I contacted them and told them they were in serious breach of the lease. I said they could either go quietly or I would make them pay the cost of forfeiture, and they chose the former. The unbelievable thing was that one of the women had paid up to 20th March and asked for her money back. After all the trouble they've caused us I was astonished that she had the gall."
Sergeant Bob Heyood, who co-ordinated the original raid, said he was pleased the women had shut up shop. He added: "We are quite confident the people we were dealing with have left the area and will not be returning to that sort of enterprise here or anywhere else. I am pleased that we have removed what was seen as a problem from that area."
In January, the Echo revealed that the premises had reopened despite the police investigation. A reporter was chased down the street by a large man after a woman offered him a "basic service" for £55 in the shop. Police had been plagued by complaints from neighbours of the shop. The building is owned by Corpus Christi College of Oxford University whose famous ex-students include government health minister William Waldegrave.