Moseley Road Baths: Grant to help protect future of historic pool

A pool dating back to 1907 has secured £100,000 to carry out more renovation work aimed at opening up further areas of the building to the public.

Birmingham's Moseley Road Baths were the oldest surviving Grade II* listed swimming baths currently operating in Britain, Historic England said.

But they have been on its Heritage at Risk Register for 16 years.

Money through a government fund will go towards repairing first-floor rooms and the front of the building.

A total of 142 historic sites in England are receiving grants worth £35m through the Culture Recovery Fund.

Moseley Baths trustee Joe Holyoak said repairs of the first-floor rooms, which were "in a pretty wrecked, ruinous state and out of bounds", were planned.

The roof over the top of them would be improved, he added.

Mr Holyoak stated: "The whole of the front of the building on Moseley Road, which is very dirty, damaged, it has weeds growing out of it, that is going to be scaffolded, cleaned and repaired."

Support is being administered on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport by Historic England.

Historic England said the grant would "help protect the future of this exceptional historic building where generations of Birmingham children have learned to swim, so it can continue to play an important role in the health and wellbeing of the local population".

The baths were forced to close in 2003 and there were fears they would never open again, but a partnership including community groups and the city council had other ideas.

The Edwardian gala pool has already benefited from funding.

Historic England has so far awarded more than £1m to the site and part of the roof has been mended.

Money is still needed to help preserve the slipper baths and to bring swimming back to the gala pool.

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