The new home for Bath’s world-leading Fashion Museum has been announced at the same time as regeneration plans for the city’s Milsom Quarter – which will be developed around the museum – have also taken a major step forward.
The museum, currently housed in the Assembly Rooms, is to relocate across the city centre to the Old Post Office, pictured, on the corner of New Bond Street and Northgate Street.
Bath & North East Somerset Council has submitted a £20m bid the government’s Levelling Up Fund to help complete the £37m museum relocation project, which will also include a new Fashion Collection Archive in Bath Spa University’s Creative Arts Quarter at Locksbrook.
The council believes the relocated museum, regarded as internationally significant, will be key for the recovery of Bath’s pandemic-hit tourism sector as well as acting as a catalyst for the transformation of the surrounding are area into a new fashion quarter, attracting high-end retailers and workspaces for creative businesses.
In May Bath Business News revealed how the masterplan for the Milsom Quarter – described by the council as a vision for the next 20 years – could also include 180 new homes in the area, which stretches from George Street in the north to Upper Borough Walls in the south, and west from Queen Square to the Cattlemarket car park.
This week the ambitious plan, pictured below, received a £2.5m boost from the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).
The funding will allow the council to appoint a team to develop the design for the relocated Fashion Museum as well as public realm improvements, the redevelopment of the Cattlemarket car park to create new homes and the redevelopment of the Broad Street car park to provide flexible workspace for the creative industries.
Council leader Kevin Guy said: “Located in the heart of Bath, the Old Post Office presents us with a unique opportunity to create one of the world’s great museums of fashion.
“It will be more accessible, engage with a wider range of people, tell a greater range of stories than we’ve ever been able to do before and will help to boost surrounding businesses.”
He said relocating the museum – which, pre-Covid, attracted more than 100,000 visitors a year – to the Old Post Office would help transform the Milsom Quarter area of into a fashion destination.
“The project will not only provide a home for this internationally important collection but will also provide strong benefit to the local area,” Cllr Guy added.
“Together, the new museum and Fashion Collection Archive will increase visits and overnight stays to the area – boosting the visitor economy and employment and helping to catalyse the regeneration of an area of the city centre hard hit by Covid,” he said.
“It will provide upskilling and reskilling opportunities to local communities and increase access to, and use of, one of the world’s leading museum collections of fashionable dress for education, creative industries and members of the public.
“It will also provide cultural engagement opportunities to local audiences who have traditionally not visited the Fashion Museum.”
Originally called the Museum of Costume, the Fashion Museum opened in the Assembly Rooms in 1963 after costume designer, collector, writer and scholar Doris Langley Moore OBE donated her private collection to the city.
It changed its name in 2007. Through its extensive work with partners in education, industry and heritage, the museum plays its part in shaping the future of fashion and its role within society.
Designated by government as of national significance under the scheme run by Arts Council England, the collection, pictured above, includes more than 100,000 objects, making it one of the largest museum collections of historic and contemporary fashionable dress in the world.
It includes garments from the 1600s up to the present day. The collections also include thousands of fashion archive documents, photographs and drawings, including the work of fashion designers, makers and retailers.
The Fashion Museum also has an international reach. In 2021 more than 603,000 people worldwide saw Fashion Museum objects, thanks to its loans programme.
Museum manager Rosemary Harden said: “It is one of the best museum collections of fashion and dress in the world as well as being a vital part of the heritage and cultural history of the city of Bath.
“It is important that we are able to care for this world-class collection and make it accessible to everyone who wishes to visit, and our future buildings are equipped to allow us to do this.
“We feel that the Old Post Office offers great opportunities to display the museum collection in different ways and will allow us to develop future events, exhibitions, learning spaces, etc.
“The collection is so extensive that we can use it as a touchstone to explore a variety of contemporary issues such as sustainability and identity. Through our community consultation so far we’ve found that the collection can fascinate, delight and inspire.
“While the Museum is closed, we will continue to develop our loans programme, so that supporters of the Fashion Museum across the world will continue to be able to see the collection in other galleries and museums.
“In addition, you will still be able to view the museum digitally and there will be opportunities to take part in activities and events throughout the closure period.”
As part of the Milsom Quarter masterplan, a new public square will be created next to St Michael’s Church, close to the new Fashion Museum, while restricted vehicle access would make the quarter greener and give priority for walking and cycling.
Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who leads WECA, said the funding meant the city could “get on with progressing this important project helping transform vital areas of Bath and getting the city firing on all cylinders”.
He added: “This funding represents an important step as we look to give Bathonians a more vibrant and busier Milsom Quarter, making this incredible city an even better place to live, work and visit. Now let’s get on and deliver.”
