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Tendrils of roots hang down from a collapsing roof while half a dozen buckets of stagnant water sit beneath in what used to be a thriving public bath house for the poor.
Built in 1889, Jacob’s Wells Baths was most recently used as a dance centre but now the grade II-listed building has fallen into a state of disrepair.
A look inside today reveals mould spreading on the walls and part of its springboard dance floor, built above the historic swimming pool, has been ripped out to erect scaffolding in the main hall.
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“It’s going to be a lot of work, but any historic building like this should be saved,” said Norman Routlege, founder of Bristol Historic Buildings (BHB).
Routlege, whose portfolio includes the Mount Without on St Michael’s Hill, Kings Weston House in Kingsweston and the Lamplighters pub in Shirehampton, wants to take on the 19th century dilapidated building and turn it into “ the jewel in the crown” of Clifton and Hotwells.
He said: “It’s got so much character, from the pump house to the facade and the whole internal dance floor that used to be the swimming pool.
“You can’t replicate that nowadays, so it would be a real shame to lose it.”
BHB is one of two bidders submitting plans to secure the future of Jacob’s Wells Baths. The other is Trinity, which wants to turn the site into “a vibrant community arts hub”.
Under BHB’s vision, the building would be turned into a multi-use dance, theatre, music and community space, with the potential to turn the old pump room into a bar and the former toilets into a kitchen and cafe.
This will involve repairing all the roofs, investigating asbestos, securing electric supply among a raft of major restoration work.
The former baths need plenty of love in order to operate as a community venue
Routlege proposes to fund this through turning forming community interest company (CIC), which is a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders.
“I’m aiming to do it through a CIC where people can get involved, invest, become shareholders, hopefully receive a little dividend and know that they’re helping save one of Bristol’s great buildings,” Routlege said.
“I was told that Cliftonwood and Hotwells hasn’t really got a community building of its own apart from a library, which is a bit horrifying really.
“It needs to be a magnificent building that everybody in the local area will love and want to use and feel part of.”
Meanwhile, CEO Emma Harvey has set out Trinity’s ideas to revitalise the building as a space for dance, youth and community provision which “encompassed a fully costed business plan and aligned with One City objectives”.
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Read more: ‘We can reimagine a different future for Jacob’s Wells Baths’
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After the pool closed in the late 1970s, Jacob’s Wells Baths was converted in 1981 into a community managed dance centre, which itself closed in 2016.
Fusion Lifestyle took over the building’s lease in 2017 with the aim to restore it as part of a leisure, dance and arts, and community centre, but later withdrew plans.
Bristol City Council has given Trinity and Bristol Historic Buildings an extension up until 30 June to submit revised plans, after which they will be scored and the fate of Jacob’s Wells Baths decided. The building being sold at auction is also a possible scenario.
The historic former swimming pool could be brought back into community use
All photos: Betty Woolerton
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