Wellington's Club Wakefield sauna and Out! Bookshop on Tory Street closed last weekend, but will reopen again soon, as the capital's other all-male sauna will relocate there.

Checkmate sauna owner Joe George says the move will happen in a few weeks' time.

"We're going to do a major overhaul on the place, so if that takes us three weeks, we'll be in there in three weeks," he says.

Checkmate has been located at 20 Garrett Street for over nine years, and George is looking forward to having more space in the new venue: "It's quite a bit bigger. There's a lot of space which wasn't used, so it means we can spread out a bit."

Club Wakefield closed at the weekend after over twenty years' business. Its Auckland-based gay business manager Tony Katavich blamed a sharp increase in rent for the decision to pull out of the capital.