Historic Turkish baths entrusted to community group

Carlisle's Turkish Baths closed in 2022, after the council said it could no longer afford to run the site

A community group will be handed responsibility for a heritage building housing Turkish baths dating back more than 100 years.

Carlisle's Turkish Baths closed in November 2022, after the city council said it could no longer afford the £26,500 a month required to keep the site open.

Cumberland Council, which took over management of the building when the authority was formed last year, has now voted to transfer the asset to The Friends of Carlisle Victorian and Turkish Baths group.

The public baths first opened in 1884, with the Victorian-style Turkish baths added in 1909. Before it closed, only 12 remained in operation in the UK - with the Carlisle baths the only one in north-west England.

Funding challenge

A council meeting heard the community group would need to find substantial funding in order to reopen them.

Councillor Barbara Cannon, portfolio holder for financial planning and assets, described the building - on James Street - as an important part of the city's cultural heritage.

But she warned: "There's still a lot of work to be done."

Leader of the authority, Councillor Mark Fryer, said: "We wish them luck because it is very, very difficult to get funding.

"We've got to give them as much help as we can."

Carlisle's Labour MP, Julie Minns, led the Friends campaign to rescue the Baths, prior to her election victory in July.

The building was granted Grade II-listed status in 2010 and cannot be demolished, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

At Tuesday's meeting, councillors agreed a 25-year rolling lease for the building, with the final terms of any decision on the lease to be made by the council's director of resources, subject to an approved business case from the Friends group.