Bathing in history
Bathing in history
Two films will spotlight campaigners who took the plunge to save North East pools. Tony Henderson reports
The group which saved Newcastle’s City Baths is staging two events as it begins the run up to celebrating the listed building’s centenary in four years’ time.
The city council owned baths building closed in 2013 as part of a cost-cutting exercise, and immediately sparked a long-running community campaign by Re-open Newcastle Turkish Baths Group.
It drew attention to what was one of only handful of once fashionable Turkish baths left in Britain.
The pool and gym at The City Baths reopened in 2020, while restoration of the Turkish Baths was completed in April this year.
What became The Friends of the City Baths, Newcastle hope the for two events will allow people to find out more about the group, and how volunteers can be involved to help celebrate the rescued and restored historic building.
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On Wednesday October 2 at 7.30pm the Star and Shadow cinema on Warwick Street hosts the Newcastle premieres of two short documentary films.
My Beautiful Turkish Baths, directed by Sule Nisancioglu, follows the group’s campaign to save Newcastle’s City Pool, and Turkish Baths.
Sule, originally from Turkey, studied in Newcastle and had an interest in in town planning and community involvement in city renovations, and the history of Turkish baths in the UK.
The Lost and Saved Pools of Tyneside, directed by Jordan Reeve, looks at the closure and resistance to closure of Tyneside swimming pools, including City Baths, Newcastle, Tynemouth Outdoor Pool and Jesmond Swimming Baths.
Jordan is an urban planner and film-maker whose documentaries on Youtube cover the built environment, predominantly around Tyneside.
The films will be followed with a Q&A with the Friends of City Baths Newcastle to find out more about their campaign, and how to get involved.
The evening at the Star and Shadow is pay by donation (suggested £7, £5 or £3) and can be reserved in advance via the website.
The group will also hold a Meet the Friends event at the City Baths, Newcastle between 2pm – 3.30pm on Saturday October 5.
The Meet the Friends event is free, open to all, and places can be reserved here.
Originally called Northumberland Baths, and later Newcastle City Pool, the current City Baths on Northumberland Street, Newcastle, opened in 1928, replacing earlier baths on the site from 1859.
The Art Deco building contained two swimming pools, Turkish Baths and a manager’s flat. As a civic building it also contains the City Hall concert space.
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Once the building had closed, Save Newcastle Turkish Baths kept the dialogue going with the council and led the campaign to save the building,
Fusion lifestyle became the preferred contractor in 2015 taking on a 125-year lease and originally committed £5m to the restoration.
The Turkish Bath Movement drove the expansion of the baths in the UK in the mid-19th century, with 600 having been identified, There were five Turkish Baths in South Shields, two in North Shields, five in Sunderland, one each in Whitley Bay, Tow Lae and Spennymoor and two in Biship Auckland.
In 1874 Pilgrim Street Turkish Baths opened in Newcastle.
A partnership between Fusion Lifestyle and researchers at North of England Civic Trust, revealed that, from the opening of the venue in 1928 until the early 1960s, the pools were unheated and couldn’t be used for swimming in the winter.
They were covered with temporary flooring and used for dances, roller-skating, exhibitions and sport.
Local firms including Vickers-Armstrong and Fenwick regularly hired the buildings for their Christmas dances.
On the same flooring, boxing matches took place from the late 1940s, and wrestling from 1958.
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During the Second World War the building was used as an emergency telephone exchange and for emergency council offices in case the Town Hall was bombed.
The baths also played regular host to a “do-nut dugout club” for American servicemen and exhibitions took place on topics on everything from ‘Digging for Victory’ and home-making, to furniture and corsets.
Local societies held regular activities and fairs including the Communist Party, the Newcastle Caged Bird Association, and groups interested in labradors, botany and pigeons.
Discover more about Friends of the City Baths here.