Carlisle Turkish Baths, James Street, Carlisle, Cumbria CA2 5AH

Carlisle Public Baths and Washhouse opened in 1884; the Turkish Baths were added in 1909 and a ladies’ waiting room and slipper baths opened in 1920 to complete the Public Baths. Despite its relatively restrained red brick exterior, the interior of the Turkish Baths is a delightfully lavish confection of tiling and glazed faience by Minton Hollins of Stoke with terrazzo flooring and marble bench tops. This interior has been altered very little since it opened and the listing entry notes its rarity.

Until November 2022, Carlisle’s grade II listed (LEN: 1393755) Turkish Baths was one of only twelve still in operation in the UK and the only example in the north-west of England. On 12 November, it was closed by Carlisle City Council and there are grave concerns for its future.

As early as 2018, Carlisle City Council voted to close the (subsequently modernised) pools in the Baths, and they then commissioned a feasibility study to look at repurposing the building. Carlisle Council will cease to exist at the end of March 2023 and the successor council, Cumberland, has yet to make a statement on the upkeep of the building.

The building is currently closed. The roof requires annual inspection and repairs and there is damp in other areas of the building. The pools will be drained, leaving them at risk of cracking, and the building will be left unheated, which also poses risks of deterioration of the fine interior.

The Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths Group (https://carlislebaths.co.uk) is undertaking viability work with a view to a community asset transfer and renovation but any reopening is unlikely before 2026. In the meantime, the baths need the protection that a secured future would give them.

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