Manchester – Bradford Baths
Bradford Baths was located in Barmouth Street, Bradford, Manchester.
The establishment was also referred to as Barmouth Street Baths.
Opened 26th August 1909.
The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust Report on Public Baths and Wash-Houses in the United Kingdom By Agnes Campbell B. A. 1918 details the building as having the following:
Three swimming pools:
75ft x 25ft
75ft x 30ft
66ft x 25ft
47 Male Slipper Baths
18 Female Slipper Baths
Public Wash House with 38 stalls
The establishment had a similar external appearance and internal layout to Harpurhey Baths opened 29th October 1910.
The architect was probably Henry Price, City Architect, Manchester City Council.
I went to grange street school and spent many hours in barmouth baths and in summer used our free pass once or twice a week there we had no inside bath so on Friday night I went with a friend and used the slipper baths upstairs
Does anyone know the date of closure of barnmouth street baths thanks
I vaguely remember it, I don’t think I swam there. I lived on Palmerston street square at the time. I do remember going with my Mum to the launderette part of it, I’m 51 now, so that must of been late 70’s maybe.
I love reading about local history and other peoples memories,
Jason Stott
I lived at 2 moody street facing the duke pub left when i was 11 used to enjoy trips to belle vue and watch wrestling in the kings hall my gran lived in gillingham street nora and alf gentry my other gran lived in score street william and harriet smith. we never had much but it taught us values i went to bradford memorial school my granchildren cant believe the playground was on the roof i tell my daughters the only grass i was aware of was philips park and belle vue i wish a few old houses would have been left standing as a tribute to the community the coal mine and johnsons wire works i used to play on the greymare lane market and one day i slipped on a broken bottle and had to go to ancoats hostpital for stiches ive still got the scare i was running to my grans down the backs when i was 3 turned around and fell over acobble cut my nose on a slate went to doctor gynies on mill street never stitched it its still scared i wonder if any body remembers the bunker pill box i think it was on score street used to go in playing if some one had thrown an old mattress in sometime chimney sweep put his soot in and we got covered in it im 71 now with a family seems like yesterday
Thank you for this excellent contribution. It’s great to know that there are people out there that remembers these places.
Washday was a busy day Mam would rush home from her full time work as a shirt machinist and set off right away pushing the pram full of washing from Cowper Street (next to Christ Church),then along Barmouth Street to the Wash House. The washing had already been sorted into three big bundles: machine wash, hand wash and boil wash. In the wash house she would set up at ‘her sink’ and get on with the washing. At the appointed time the male attendant would call her to the boil-wash vat and all our whites were emptied into it and boiled for a timed period. At the end of that time all Mam’s washing had been finished so everything was then transferred to a massive ” whizzer”… a spin drier to you and me. Then came the drying, a wall of tall metal doors. When these doors were pulled away from the wall you could see that long rows of metal bars were attached and went horizontally into and behind the wall. At the very back you could see a furnace. When the clothes were hung onto the racks and the door closed again the drying process began and Mam could gather all of her bits and bobs together. The clothes and sheets in the furnace were dry in no time. On wash night it was my job to make the meal and Mam would arrive home, eat and then, because the week’s washing was dry, she would set about doing the ironing. It was a long, long, day for our superhero.