News / Hotwells
Fundraiser launched to transform former baths
A group is raising money to help restore the Grade II-listed Jacob’s Wells Baths to its former glory.
Trinity Community Arts are hoping to raise £10,000 – the same amount the Victorian bathhouse-turned-dance centre was built for back in 1889.
“With scaffolding in place, we are undertaking essential repairs at height, including roof works and the restoration and replacement of the historic lantern,” said Trinity CEO & Jacob’s Wells Baths lead Emma Harvey.
“This is a critical window where access allows us to address some of the most urgent and complex elements of the building.”
Trinity were granted a 35-year guardianship lease of the building in 2023 and hopes to bring the building back to use as a community and arts space by 2027.
Scaffolding has gone up around the listed building as repairs begin
Over £2m has already been raised to fund the renovation, with Trinity developing a “major application” to the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help “unlock the next stage of investment”.
Phase one of the renovation is already underway to decontaminate the site from asbestos, make it watertight and prevent it from deteriorating further.
The former public bath built to serve the working poor was converted into a dance studio in the early 1980s before closing in 2018.
Its pool remains below the former dance studios’ sprung wooden floor but plans by a different firm to restore it as a public swimming pool were abandoned due to the pandemic and rising costs.
Opened in 1887, Jacob’s Wells Baths were described at the time by the Western Daily Press as “one of the finest in the kingdom”
“When Jacob’s Wells Baths was first proposed in the late 19th century, it was an ambitious idea: to build a public baths for the people of Hotwells, in an area marked by poverty, overcrowding and poor living conditions,” Harvey said.
“Momentum is building – but there remains a gap to close in order to make the most of the works currently underway.
“Jacob’s Wells Baths was shaped by collective effort at its beginning. This is our opportunity to do the same, to carry it forward for generations to come.”
To support the appeal, visit www.fundsurfer.com/crowdfund/jacobs-wells-baths
All photos: Khali Ackford
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