Firefighters have vacated Bath Fire Station ahead of its demolition and rebuild.
Bath’s former fire station on Bathwick Street, which will soon be demolished
Bath’s fire crews departed from their base in the city of almost 90 years for the final time on Thursday 26th February.
In a send-off to the station, fire engines and emergency vehicles lined up outside the station and sounded their sirens before driving off one by one.
For the next year and a half, Bath’s fire crews will operate from a new temporary fire station located just off the Lower Bristol Road in Twerton.
A spokesperson for Avon Fire & Rescue Service said: “We closed the doors of Bath Fire Station at Cleveland Bridge on 26th February, until next year, as the station undergoes a complete redevelopment.
“It is being rebuilt to modern standards and is expected to reopen in the summer of 2027.
“In the meantime, the temporary station on Roseberry Rd, Bath (BA2 3DX) is now up and running, and continues to operate across the city. We ask for all residents to still call 999 in an emergency.”
How the new station will look | Image © Avon Fire & Rescue Service / Nicholas Pearson Associates
The appliance bay doors of the 1930s fire station are not wide enough for use by modern fire engines, which “frequently strike the sides of the building.”
The ageing building also lacks space for the facilities needed for modern firefighting, has suffered cracking from ground movement, and plaster has fallen due to water damage. Its facilities are considered “substandard”.
There were calls to save the historic building, which saw Bath through the Bath Blitz in 1942 and is a rare work by a female architect from the era. It was completed in 1938 by Molly Gerrard (nee Taylor), who also designed Kilowatt House.
The Twentieth Century Society and Historic England called for it to be grade II listed, but the government refused, saying it was “not sufficiently special”.
Council officers said the needs of the emergency services and public safety outweighed the loss of a historic building, recommending councillors grant planning permission for the demolition and rebuild.
How the new station will look | Image © Avon Fire & Rescue Service / Nicholas Pearson Associates
They pointed out: “Within Bath, the fire service plays an important role in protecting other historic buildings and heritage assets of higher significance, including the world heritage site, from fire damage.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s planning committee voted unanimously in November to grant the planning permission.
Local councillor Toby Simon (Bathwick, Liberal Democrat) said in a statement to the planning committee: “While it is sad to lose the existing station … it’s in poor structural condition and doesn’t meet current requirements for a fire station.”
The new building will have wider and taller appliance bay doors, and have six instead of five. It will also include decontamination facilities needed for modern firefighting and, critically, welfare spaces.
The plan is for the original fireman’s pole in the building to be reclaimed and incorporated into the final design of the new fire station and for the crest on the facade of the current building to be carefully salvaged and “prominently re-set at the public entrance.”
The new fire station cannot simply be built in a different location. On-call firefighters are required to live within a five-minute drive of the fire station, and so moving from the current site permanently would involve relocating or re-recruiting 14 individuals.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
