Don't miss the chance to have your say as we progress our plans to transform Jacobs Wells into a dynamic space for youth, arts, community and learning.

Come along and find out more.

Image credit: Jacobs Wells Baths, Martin Booth

The future of Jacobs Wells Baths in Hotwells is one step closer to being secured, as the Council's CAT Group announced its decision to offer Trinity Community Arts a 35-year CAT lease, subject to receipt of a satisfactory business plan.

Trinity will also receive a six-month occupational license during the transfer phase, to enable us to undertake a detailed series of specialist surveys, funded by the Bristol-based Nisbet Trust. The Trinity team will be working with a team of professionals in conservation and historic asset preservation, led by Greenwood Projects.

"We are delighted that the Council listened to local people and everyone who campaigned to save Jacobs Wells Baths for community use. We very much look forward to working with Trinity and our community to breathe life back into this wonderful building. We can't wait to fill Jacobs Wells Baths with people, art, performance, music, laughter and friendship for years to come." Rachel McNally, Chair of Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association

The decision to award Trinity a CAT lease comes following a community-led campaign, backed with the support of Clifton ward Councillors, Katy Grant and Paula O’Rourke, alongside representatives from the Hotwells & Cliftonwood Community Association and Jacobs Wells Community Hub and high-profile endorsement from Actor and national treasure Miriam Margolyes.

Thanks as well to the mayor’s office and all the Council Officers who, despite limited resources, have pulled out all the stops to complete this process and to Norman Routledge, Bristol Historic Buildings who spearheaded an alternative bid for Jacobs Wells Baths.

Whilst we still have some distance to travel, this news marks the first step in the preservation and restoration of Jacobs Wells Baths - a building that not only holds immense architectural significance but also provides space to facilitate enhanced access to essential services and support for the community.

Read more about the story of Saving Jacobs Wells Baths here

How you can help:

• Amplify this news on your social media channels using #SaveJWB
• Share your story of Jacobs Wells Bath with us using #SaveJWB on socials
• Sign up to Power to Change's We're Right Here Campaign
• Support Jacobs Wells Baths by donating below

Thumbnail image credit: Jane Northcote

Jacobs Wells Baths Statement, June 2023

As part of our commitment to open working and transparency, we would like to update stakeholders regarding our recently submitted proposal to take on management of Jacobs Wells Baths and reinstate it as a community arts hub for Hotwells.

Following conversation with Bristol City Council in February 2023 to discuss options for the recovery of Jacobs Wells Baths, Bristol City Council (BCC) launched a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) process to formally select a preferred bidder to transform the building.

Trinity submitted a bid that included a fully costed business plan, based on the available criteria published in March. An overview of our proposal to bring the space back into use as a multi-use hub and a full copy of BCC’s responses can be viewed on the links below:

Read our Vision for Jacobs Wells Baths

Read a summary of our CAT application

In spite of indication that Trinity's application scored strongly against the CAT criteria, BCC have written to us in May to state that they will instead be pursuing disposal if we do not submit a joint bid with a second bidder whose legal entity dissolved in March 2023. The wrote to us again in June to ask us to ask us for a further additional bid.

Read BCC responses from May and June.

Speaking in support of Trinity’s plans, Miriam Margolyes – actor and Trinity patron said; “Sadly, arts centres are closing all over the country. It’s something I bitterly regret because I think the arts are the soul of the nation and I think, in our difficult world, people need a place where they can go and learn whatever they want to learn. And talk to each other and have a cup of tea and just relax in a friendly space…I think it’s really important that Bristol should have more of these spaces and that the arts can flourish and nourish us all - because that’s what they do. It’s a beautiful building, and it can be beautiful again.”

Though Trinity were given indication that our bid scored almost full marks, we’ve been told we must back the other bidder with our fundraising and community engagement expertise - even though this is not possible or practical, not least because the legal entity in question dissolved in March of this year.

There are material funds available for a project of this nature and conversations with the community and funders have been hugely supportive. This includes support from a major donor based locally alongside national funders who have granted us permission to apply to their programmes. Sadly we have been unable to progress these applications without Council backing with a leasehold offer in principle.

Emma Harvey, CEO who has been leading Trinity's CAT proposal said;

“It is disappointing given the levels of support and investment that the city has made in certain assets that they are the one stakeholder we've failed to mobilise, even though we only need their support with a leasehold offer in principle and not any funding.

We recognise the difficult position local authorities face in trying to balance budgets. However, this is a classic catch-22 that only they have the power to break - we are simply unable to progress planned grant applications to the next stages and this leaves us without a realistic prospect of success given that the building is currently uninsurable for reinstatement value in its current condition. This presents a real problem for that site given its condition and listed building status.”

With specific funds coming with strict deadlines our window of opportunity to save this building is at risk of closing, unless we can mobilise support from BCC. And by support, I don't mean money - I just mean a letter from someone in charge to says, "yes, we support this proposal". It's really, sadly, that simple.

Fidel Meraz, Trustee for Trinity and Board lead on the Jacobs Wells plans said;

The Board of Trinity expresses its disappointment with the response from BCC. Although both bids may share similarities, they also present meaningful qualitative differences. Trinity is putting forward a long-standing track record of heritage asset conservation and management, a robustly backed-up preliminary plan, and a vision and mission for the project compatible with its charitable objectives, making its proposal incompatible with being merged with a more commercial one.

We have approached BCC for clarity regarding their decision and have requested sight of their assessment and scoring against the published CAT criteria, so that we may seek to understand more clearly their rationale.

We would like to give thanks to all those who have supported us in our work so far in shaping a vision for a community and cultural hub for Hotwells, including local funders who have generously committed their support in principle to enable us to take the chance on this once in a lifetime opportunity. As always, we welcome a conversation with relevant BCC decision makers in order to find a way forward to safeguard this invaluable civic and cultural asset in line with One City objectives.

We will continue to take advice where available and liaise with all stakeholders regarding a positive outcome. We are still committed to progressing our proposal, which we believe to be the strongest plan for building recovery and reinstatement of Jacobs Wells Baths as a community hub for the city.

Photo credit: Ice Road by Raucous, Jack Offord, Jacobs Wells Baths

"Bristol is brimming with dance talent in many forms, and it is well overdue for a dedicated space of its own" Deborah Baddoo MBE, Bristol Dance Futures Producer

Former dance centre and Victorian swimming pool, Jacobs Wells Baths has recently been saved from potential disposal by Bristol City Council following their announcement to launch an open process for expressions of interests to manage the building via a Community Asset Transfer.

In 2019-21 we were part of Bristol Dance Futures, a consortium dedicated to building dance profile, capacity and infrastructure in Bristol. The project highlighted the rich potential of dance in the city and created legacies including cross-sector working across health and community development.

We asked Bristol Dance Futures Producer, Deborah Baddoo MBE, to reflect on the project and to share how it could help reimagine a community space, such as Jacobs Wells Baths.

"During my time as producer for Bristol Dance Futures it was clearly evident that there is a huge gap in terms of a dance specific space in Bristol.

Obviously, it is important to bring dance into other organisations who may not normally have access to dance activity, but there is a thriving dance community throughout the city, hiring commercial studios, performing in unsuitable spaces and trying to book spaces in venues for rehearsals, classes and workshops.

Post Covid-19, now more than ever, the powers that be are recognising the valuable role that dance and indeed all the arts have on helping individuals on their journey to wellbeing and the special role that dance has in connecting people, improving mobility, releasing stress and enhancing creativity, to name only a few of the benefits of dance.

A dedicated dance space such as Jacobs Wells Baths has potential to be a place where many exciting initiatives can flourish, a networking space for dance, a rehearsal space, and importantly hub for dance and wellbeing activity in the city.

Dance in Bristol has gone through many changes and manifestations over the last 25 years, but these have always tended to be piecemeal, short-lived initiatives having limited long-term impact for the sector as a whole.

Bristol is brimming with dance talent in many forms, and it is well overdue for a dedicated space of its own. A dedicated space will help enable the dance sector in Bristol to continue to grow and be a catalyst for exciting new developments and a much needed home for dance in this vibrant city."

Deborah Baddoo MBE, Dance Producer

If you would like to join a conversation on what the future for Jacob Wells could be, please click here.

Historic England visit Jacobs Wells Baths. Credit Alistair Brookes

As part of our campaign to save Jacobs Wells Baths, we are calling out for people to send in their images and to put themselves forward to take part in a project photoshoot

Image callout

Do you have memories of Jacobs Wells you would like to share? Was it a place to dance? A place for community? A place to gather or a place to rehearse?

If you have pictures from your time learning to dance, swim or take part at Jacobs Wells Baths please send them through to us with a brief description and any photographer credits. Images will be used as part of our latest heritage learning and participation project to build a story of people's memories about the space.

Send your images through to info@trinitybristol.org.uk and our Heritage Project Manager will be in touch if they'd like to know more.

Photoshoot

What are your hopes and dreams for the future of Jacobs Wells? We need your help to imagine the possibilities of Jacobs Wells as we breathe life back into this iconic building for future community use.

In 2025, we will be working with Bristol based photographer Khali Ackford to create a public photos series capturing portraits of the people who are, were and will be at the centre of Jacobs Wells’ past, present and future.

Through your participation, we can highlight the importance of our civic buildings and the impact on our community if those places are lost. If you would like to find out more about taking part in the photoshoot, please email Trinity’s Producer Esther Afikiruweh on esther@trinitybristol.org.uk or call the office, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm on 0117 935 1200.

About the photographer

Khali Ackford has built up a name for his iconic portraiture, working at the heart of some of the most culturally significant moments in UK’s history, including the UK BLM movement, the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol and marches against male violence.

About Jacobs Wells Baths

Since the start of 2023, Trinity has been on a mission to save the Grade II listed Jacobs Wells Baths building, following the news that Bristol City Council had put the asset up for disposal. Since securing a 35-year Community Asset Transfer lease, we’ve completed emergency repairs to limit further damage to the building and Phase 1 Repair Works are now underway to bring the space back into community use by Autumn 2025.

Join our mission to restore Jacobs Wells Baths and transform it into a dynamic space for youth, arts, community, and learning.

Together with the community, we've developed a plan to repair, renovate and revive this amazing building. We're now working to raise £4m to deliver a phased programme of works and we're asking the people of Bristol to give what they can to support this exciting and ambitious project.

“This is building is special for me. Here I learned how to stand up straight, and I learned where my feet were. Or rather, I learned how to learn those physical things, or I learned that they could be learned. My teacher was a dancer, Helen Roberts.” Jane Nortcote

With the condition of the building rapidly declining, we're on a race against time to stop the clock on any further damage. Working with a team of specialists led by Greenwood Projects, we're carrying out detailed surveys to assess the building's condition and delivering a programme of emergency works to give us time needed to raise funds for the full repairs programme.

So far we've concentrated efforts on the North wing, which has suffered from serious damage due to heavy rain and lack of maintenance over decades. We're clearing blocked gutters and fixing slumped sections to ensure proper drainage and prevent further leaks. We're clearing, repairing and sealing valley gutters and downpipes. To protect what remains of the roof, we're adding a durable membrane to improve waterproofing and prevent any further damage to the fabric and interior space.

We're actively applying for grant schemes, including the Community Ownership Fund, to deliver a phased repair and renovation scheme and reopen Jacobs Wells Baths as a hub for community, arts, and youth provision by March 2025.

Now, we need your help to bring back Jacobs Wells Baths - together, we can make the magic happen!

• Fill in our survey tell us how you would like to use space
• Share your story e.g. images / memories of space #savejwb or to info@trinitybristol.org.uk
• Write a letter of support
• Join us on one of our pop up events to find out more about our plans
• Comment and vote on our Pol.is

Donate to the Jacobs Wells Baths Fundsurfer now

Banner produced by the Jacobs Wells Baths Community Hub group, c 2017

Have your say on the future of Jacobs Wells Baths!

As the first bit of new fabric goes on the building, we’re thrilled to have reached an exciting milestone in the journey to bring Jacobs Wells Baths, a much-loved historic building in the heart of Bristol, back to life as a vibrant arts and heritage space.

Now, we want YOU to help shape its future.

This is your chance to have a real say in how the building is used, what kind of activities it hosts, and how it can best serve the community. Whether you’re a dancer, artist, producer, cultural institution, youth project, events organiser, community group, or just someone with a passion for Bristol’s heritage, your input is invaluable.

Alongside face-to-face consultation, we’re asking anyone with an interest in this building's future to complete a short survey to help us:

1. Take the architectural plans to the next stage
2. Inform the business planning for sustainable use of the building
3. Ensure the space meets the needs and aspirations of the people who will use it

What could Jacobs Wells Baths offer you in the future?

Complete the survey by midnight, 24th November to make sure your voice is heard.

We’ll share the results alongside the outcome of our upcoming stakeholder consultations so you can see how your ideas are helping shape this exciting project.

This is more than just a building. It’s a chance to create a community-led, heritage-rich hub for arts, culture, and creativity in Bristol.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of its future!

Click here to complete our survey.

Exciting developments are underway at Jacobs Wells Baths as restoration efforts continue...

As local residents may have seen, works are progressing on site at Jacobs Wells Baths as part of our repair and recovery efforts. The latest bat surveys have returned positive results, confirming no signs of a roost. With this assurance, a bat license has been submitted, allowing planned works to proceed as scheduled from the start of March.

Work has begun on dismantling the parapet wall, revealing the impressive strength of the original Cattybrook brick (see image, above). Our contractor has noted that the mortar is some of the toughest they’ve ever worked with, further testament to the building’s historic craftsmanship.

We’re also thrilled to announce that Historic England has awarded £89,743 to deliver a focused scope of works to the South Studio roof over the coming months. Stay tuned for updates as this next phase progresses.

Facilities Manager Emma Brown has been working closely with the design team to develop a secure access plan for the site and overseeing essential tasks such as site clearance and graffiti removal.

With these key milestones in place, Jacobs Wells Baths is moving closer to its restoration goals.

Thank you for your continued support and watch this space for more updates!

Join us on the journey to Save Jacobs Wells Baths & empower communities through the arts

Trinity Community Arts is a registered charity number 1144770

Image by Alistair Brookes

Historic England has awarded a grant of £89,743 to the Grade II listed Jacobs Wells Baths in Bristol, providing a further boost to secure the future of this important Victorian building.

The funding will support urgent repairs to the south studio wing, releasing the space for temporary community use while the wider restoration plans progress.

The work will include the restoration of the roof lantern, repairs to the chimney, roof supports, and gutters, and essential masonry work.

The south wing once housed the women’s warm baths. It is matched by another single-story wing on the north side which housed the men’s warm baths.

Comments

Ross Simmonds, South West Regional Director at Historic England, said: "Jacobs Wells Baths is a remarkable example of Victorian civic architecture that tells an important story about public health and community life in Bristol. This grant represents another vital step in breathing new life into this much-loved building, ensuring it can once again serve as a vibrant community asset."

Emma Harvey, CEO of Trinity Community Arts, said: "This funding is more welcome news for Jacobs Wells Baths. These essential repairs will not only protect the building's historic fabric but will help us create a temporary community hub in the south wing. This space will become crucial for engaging local residents and stakeholders as we develop our wider vision for the building's future."

Carla Denyer, MP for Bristol Central, said: “Jacobs Wells Baths is an incredible historic building and I’ve been delighted to watch the progress as it has been restored for the community to use.

“This grant will play a vital role in ensuring that the Baths can become a thriving community hub, and I can’t wait to see the outcome of the restoration.”

This is the second Historic England repair grant to support the Saving Jacobs Wells project, which aims to transform the baths into a multi-purpose community, civic arts, and heritage hub. A grant of £57,800 in 2024 funded emergency works to prevent water getting into the building.

History

Built in 1889 to the designs of City Surveyor Josiah Thomas, the Northern Renaissance Revival style building features distinctive local red brick with buff terracotta dressings. The baths originally served Bristol residents with both swimming facilities and warm baths, fed by the natural springs of Jacob's Well on Brandon Hill. The building was listed at Grade II in 1977.

Ashton Court Future Ville Launch. Photo credit Caroline Thake

Bristol City Council has announced The Community Resilience Fund to be made available to community groups delivering provision in some of Bristol’s most deprived areas. The announcement of the grant follows the publication of Trinity’s 100 Beacons Report that we submitted to the City Council.

The report, created in partnership with other venues and the Council, shines a light on Bristol's community and cultural assets, including the critical role they played in providing local services as part of the COVID19 response.

"Huge thanks to Trinity for advocating for other community buildings in some of Bristol’s most neglected areas and to Bristol City Council for engaging and responding to this need” Katherine Chiswell Jones, Art Space Life Space

We created the report with the intention of building a collective case for capital investment in the city’s youth, community and cultural assets and we are pleased that Bristol City Council has now announced the commitment to funding these much-needed spaces.

The one-off pot of £4 million is also available for city-wide self-organised equality groups and is intended to help groups invest in costs, such as works to improve access, upgrading ICT infrastructure or works to a community building.

Our 100 Beacons report was part of our continued commitment to advocating for shared community and cultural spaces. We are members of Locality, support a ’Community Power Act’ and, have invested in Stokes Croft Land Trust.

Find out more about the funding and how to apply here

Dr Katie McClymont's talk '...and The Spirit Lingered On' explored the idea of community spirituality photo@ Khali Ackford

As momentum builds to save Jacob Wells Baths and return the listed building to community use we are looking back at our archive and sharing our blogs exploring the importance of community spaces. In this blog, first published in 2018 as part of our Heart & Soul heritage project, we reflect on Dr Katie McClymont's  (UWE’s Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning) public talk about municipal spirituality and its social context.

"Before Katie’s talk I did not understand much about the subject but it was an enormously interesting presentation with many specific examples from around Bristol." Audience member

The talk began with an explanation of the meaning of municipal spirituality and the way it occurs in places with civic and spiritual functions. The term is quite broad and can be applied to music venues, libraries, ex-churches, parks, public spaces and community centres. The factor of whether the space is inside or outside is irrelevant, it is the sense of potential for togetherness or inclusivity that is the key. This feeling does not have to respond to an existing religion, it can be responding to something beyond the everyday realm. For example, cemeteries are not necessarily places of religion but to many people have an enormous sense of the spiritual.

As part of her talk, Katie showed examples of church buildings around Bristol that have been re-purposed. They are all buildings that she happened to be passing on her route around the city on a given day, showing how many church buildings are scattered across the city, and the great proportion of them which are being used for something different than the original purpose.

Katie talked about how, through the 1970s and 1980s, there was an exponential rate of church closures. Some of these still have a social function, such as a former church in Easton that is now a centre for supported independence. Currently the Church of England (C of E) closes around 20-25 churches per each year.

A report from the charity Locality documents this selling buildings and what comminities are doing in response to this.

"I found it very interesting to hear that C of E churches are available for sale, listed on the C of E website for the public to peruse. Some of them have descriptions about their future use, for example ‘for continued worship’, ‘community work’ or ‘suitable for a wide range of uses’." Tess Sieling, project intern

Katie cited the strange feeling around seeing churches for sale in such a matter of fact, straightforward way when in fact they are very special buildings. This raised the question: can you put a price on a church? Also, what judgements are being made about the buildings before they are sold? The example of the Bill’s restaurant chain taking over old church buildings was used, as Katie said that in some cases the insides are ripped out but the strong ethos from the church remains. Even in its new function, sometimes a feeling of the old spirit lingers on. Katie is a very passionate advocate about the amazing idea that churches will always be a place to create connections between people and others; people and the past; and people and something bigger than themselves.

Katie made a film about community art spaces around Bristol including Trinity, Jacobs Wells Baths, Barton Hill Settlement and St Mary Redcliffe Church. As well as being a great medium to communicate the joys of community spaces, Katie said that when they were interviewing people from these spaces, after being asked a question, the interviewee would often give a very telling pause before answering which she believes shows the sense of the community space working beyond its physical and material achievements. Sometimes when churches are changed into private use buildings like a holiday home it can feel wrong and perhaps this is due to that change away from its original ethos. Is it because there is a feeling of loss of the shared community space that once was there?

What is the value of a church when it no longer is a church? Photo credit @Khali Ackford

Sometimes when churches are changed into private use buildings like a holiday home it can feel wrong and perhaps this is due to that change away from its original ethos. Is it because there is a feeling of loss of the shared community space that once was there?

Churches have value. They have a common purpose and a built heritage. The debate is what is their value is and when is it lost? If the value is the sense of people coming together and socialising with people they would not normally, then spaces like Trinity offer us examples of activites that do this with great popularity and with no religious aspect.

Churches closing have caused massive losses to local communities. In addition, a lot of us now live in self selective communities, so where do you meet people different from you apart from in a doctor’s waiting room or on a bus?

Katie's talk highlighted the importance of having inclusive places where different people can engage in a meaningful way. Do we define using a church as a multi use community space as adapting the church or losing the church? As an increasing number of us are of no religion, perhaps we are adapting churches to keep them relevant and concerts, gigs and other actitivites offer us that place to congregate in our secular state.

This write up was by Tess Sieling, who was the project intern on the Heart & Soul heritage project. The talk was part of a series exploring the challenges and achievements of transforming and preserving historic buildings and was programmed in collaboration with Bristol's Architecture Centre and the University of West England (UWE).

How to get involved

Click here to sign the Hotwells and Cliftonwood petition to Save Jacobs Wells Baths

Further reading

Read more from Katie McClymont in her published journal, Spaces for Secular Faith

Read more from our Heart & Soul talk series - Father Paul, Fidel Meraz and A Million Bricks of Love.

Read more about the Save Jacobs Wells Campaign here.