ONE of the UK’s oldest indoor swimming pools is getting a huge makeover after being forced to close three years ago.
Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, opened back in 1907 but has been shut to the public since 2023.
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Now, the Grade II-listed Edwardian pool will be brought back to life with a new community health and wellbeing hub as well as restored main pool.
The baths are split into three main pools: the Gala Pool (which used to be for upper class men); the second class men’s pool and then the women’s baths.
The Gala Pool – which closed back in 2003 due to safety concerns – will be completely restored and reopened, as will the mezzanine gallery around the pool and there will be a new ground-floor viewing area too.
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According to Visit Birmingham, the pool is “the grandest space in the building” with cast iron arches and viewing balconies on three sides of the pool.
The second pool onsite will then be converted into a flexible event space.
The Women’s Slipper Baths – which locals used to pay a small fee to bathe right up until 2004 – will be made into a community health and wellbeing hub and the Men’s Second Class Slipper Baths will be transformed into a community gym.
The former boiler room will then be made into another flexible studio space.
Following all of the upgrades, the baths are expected to reopen in late 2028.
Previous restoration works started in September last year, of the roofs at the baths and the Balsall Heath Library, which is getting a new mezzanine level.
Many original features will be kept though throughout the building, such as the oak wood ticket offices and 30-metre Gothic Renaissance facade with red brick and terracotta.
Other original features include glazed bricks in ivory, turquoise and cream and terrazzo floors.
In 2016, the baths were even placed on the World Monuments Fund’s watch list, placing the baths in the top 10 per cent of the most important historic buildings in England.
Joe Holyoak, Chair, Friends of Moseley Road Baths said: “For more than two decades, our community has fought to keep Moseley Road Baths open and to secure its future.
“Today’s news is a moment of immense pride.
“We will swim in the Gala Pool again, and this magnificent building will be a home for our community for generations to come.
“We’re hugely grateful to everyone who has played their part in making this happen, and to the swimmers who supported us along the way.”
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands said: “Moseley Road Baths is a real Birmingham icon and it’s now closer than ever to reopening to the public because local people never gave up on it.”