One of Cumbria’s hidden gems had double reason to celebrate last week after winning two county-wide awards in the space of 48 hours.
On Thursday night Carlisle Turkish Baths scooped the Cumbria Life Award for Best Small Tourist Attraction. Then on Saturday the Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths were named The Community Group of the year at BBC Radio Cumbria’s inaugral ‘Make A Difference’ Awards.
Despite the double delight the Grade II listed Baths on James Street remain under threat of imminent council closure.
Julie Minns, Chair of the Friends Group said: “Winning one award would have been amazing, but two in two days was astonishing. We are over the moon that these gorgeous baths are finally getting the recognition they deserve. A year ago they weren’t even mentioned in Carlisle’s visitor information, now we have people coming to Carlisle from all over the country just to use the Baths.”
Since the Friends formed in May last year the number of users of the Baths has more than doubled and over 5,000 people have signed the petition in support of the group’s vision to restore and redevelop as a Centre for Health and Wellbeing.
Campaigners had hoped that resurgent interest in the Baths and a massive increase in usage would have persuaded Carlisle City Council to renew the contract with Better Leisure to operate the Baths. But less than two weeks before Better Leisure move all their staff Carlisle’s The Sands Leisure Centre, there is still no news from Carlisle City Council’s leadership about what they intend to do with Cumbria’s best small tourist attraction.
Kate Spacey who collected the BBC ‘Make a Difference Award’ along with Emma Desborough-Hartley, Elsa Price and Julie Minns from the Friends Group, said, “Our campaign isn’t about saving an old building, it’s about saving part of the country’s living heritage. It’s about keeping a facility that supports health and wellbeing open for the community of people who depend on it. It’s about recognising that we have something unique and special that nowhere else in the Northwest has, and that has got to be worth fighting for”.
In 2018 Carlisle City Council voted to open new pools at The Sands Centre and close the James Street pools, which include two smaller pools housed in the 1884 Public Baths building. However no decision was made then or subsequently to close the Turkish Baths, which provide the last publicly available sauna and steam facilities in the city.
The Grade II listed Baths on James Street are the last Turkish Baths still in operation in the Northwest and one of only twelve left in the UK.
