The National Trust has this week been granted permission to transform the outside spaces at Bath Assembly Rooms into welcoming landscaped areas.
Work is ongoing at the Assembly Rooms
The scheme will complement the refurbishment and alteration work currently taking place within the Grade I listed heritage attraction at Bennett Street which includes a new Georgian visitor experience.
The venue had been due to reopen in late 2026, but current signage says it will be in 2027.
Bath Assembly Rooms were designed by John Wood the Younger in 1769 as a place for gathering, dancing and performing. When they first opened in 1771, the Rooms’ assemblies were widely praised for their inclusivity and for the welcome they provided not just to society’s elite, but for people from across the social spectrum.
It was thought to be the only space in the kingdom at the time where ordinary, working-class people could attend the same events as royals and aristocrats.
The National Trust has owned the Assembly Rooms since 1931. From 1937, it let the venue to the council. The site was severely damaged during German bombing raids in 1942 and restored in the 1950s.
The Assembly Rooms housed the internationally acclaimed Fashion Museum from the early 1960s until 2022, when the National Trust enforced a break clause to take the property back.
In March 2023, the National Trust took on the day-to-day management of the Assembly Rooms before closing the doors in early 2025 to enable the restoration work to begin.
The National Trust’s vision is to bring Bath Assembly Rooms back to life, restoring its Georgian splendour and spirit of diverse assembly.
As well as major investments into the building itself, the National Trust will be transforming the outside spaces, namely the western forecourt and southern and northern courtyards, to provide an “exciting, welcoming and appealing first impression” to visitors arriving at the site and for the benefit of the wider public.
The scheme will include planted areas, seating and new paving in the courtyards.
Since the Fashion Museum closed, the collection of more than 100,000 items has been in storage at Dents at Warminster.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is due to make a decision later this month on the proposed new home for the Fashion Museum in the city’s Milsom Quarter which, if plans go smoothly, is expected to open in 2030.
