Derelict Jacob's Wells Baths opens with immersive art installation
The derelict Jacob's Wells Baths in Bristol opened for the first time in a decade, featuring an immersive art installation as part of its ongoing restoration.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A former bath house in Bristol, derelict for ten years, has opened its doors to the public for the first time in a decade. The event was an immersive sound and light installation held inside the pump room of Jacob's Wells Baths, which is being restored into an arts venue.
The building, originally a Victorian engineering feat, housed 60,000 gallons of water that were pumped around the baths in the 1880s. Since then, significant work has been carried out, including the removal of asbestos. Every brick in the pump room was hand scrubbed to prepare the space for its first public performance since England last lost a World Cup semi-final.
The light and sound installation marks the first event held at the site in ten years. The focus is currently on restoring the building's fabric, but the long-term vision is centred on people. The project aims to create a citizen-powered arts centre, where local communities sit on panels and work with experts to decide what goes on in the space, who uses it, and who shapes its future. Organisers say there is nothing else like this on such a scale being built in the UK right now.
Work is ongoing, with further Heritage Lottery Fund applications needed. More events are expected as the restoration progresses, with completion targeted for 2029.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| The bath house was derelict for ten years. | |
| The building had asbestos removed and every brick hand scrubbed. | |
| The pump room pumped 60,000 gallons of water around the baths in the 1880s. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The report focused on the physical restoration of the building, the history of the pump room, and the future vision of a citizen-powered arts centre. It had a positive, forward-looking tone, highlighting the community engagement model as a unique aspect of the project.
- “I think there's something really interesting and exciting about trying to bring art spaces into these, what were derelict buildings, and trying to bring these back to life, because there is so much push within renovation and within the rejuvenation of urban spaces that it all just becomes accommodation, it becomes offices, but actually trying to build spaces for the community, trying to build spaces for the arts and engaging with that is really exciting.”
- “When we look at the fabric of the building, you can hear the threads of the stories of the people who built it, why they built it, what they were trying to do, and our ambition for the building is that we can protect, honour those stories, but overlay the stories of how we are now, who the community is around this building, their ambitions, their needs, weave them into that story, and that becomes an even richer story than to pass on to the next generation.”
- “There's nothing else quite like this in the UK being built right now, and what I mean by that is there's nothing on this scale, nothing a world-class art centre being built that's going to be citizen-powered.”
Broadcast Timeline
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