Historic fashion museum set to reopen in 2030

The former post office will become home to the fashion museum

An iconic fashion museum is set to reopen in the autumn of 2030 as architects have been appointed to the major project.

The Fashion Museum Bath shut in October 2022 when the National Trust took back its former home in the Assembly Rooms.

A new home had been identified in the Grade II listed old post office on the corner of New Bond Street but contractors had not yet been hired.

Now architects 6a have been given the job of turning the site into a "state-of-the-art 21st Century cultural institution", bosses say.

'International significance'

Construction is expected to start in 2027, with the museum expected to open its doors in the autumn of 2030 — eight years after it closed at its former home of the Assembly Rooms.

As well as museum galleries to display its collection, the museum would include new learning spaces for workshops, lectures, and school visits, a café and shop, and venues for hire, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Paul Roper, Bath and North East Somerset Council’s cabinet member for economic and cultural sustainable development, said: “The creation of our new fashion museum is of national and international significance.

"This is reflected in the outstanding architectural practices who tendered for this project.

“This is going to be a new, world-class institution in a UNESCO World Heritage City, and there is huge excitement that, at long last, we will be able to display our unique and outstanding fashion collection in a location and setting that it fully deserves.”

The collection is being stored until it can be displayed fully again

The new location will have double the floorspace that the museum had at the Assembly Rooms.

6a is an award-winning architecture firm specialises in “sensitively transforming” historic spaces and previous projects include gallery spaces at the Tate Liverpool and the South London Gallery.

Tom Emerson, co-founder of 6a, said: "Fashion, re-use, museums, and galleries have been central to our practice, and we look forward to bringing these threads together in this ambitious project.

“The Fashion Museum’s collection, just like the architecture of Bath, is an incredible source of inspiration and we are excited to work with the museum team to bring it to the broadest of audiences.”

While homeless, the collection is being stored at glove makers Dents in Warminster, as they have the appropriate facilities to store the fragile clothes.