End of an era: Central Baths demolished

Central Baths being demolished

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Rochdale’s former Central Baths on Entwisle Road finally succumbed to the demolition teams today watched by small groups of onlookers, many of whom undoubtedly remember learning to swim there in days gone by.

The wonderful art deco building faced in Accrington Brick and York stone was opened on May 25th 1937 and superseded the old baths on nearby Smith Street dating from 1868.

Central Baths contained the Large Plunge at 100’ x 36’ and the Small Plunge at 75’ x 30’. There were also 25 slipper baths as well as Russian and Turkish baths plus a café and areas for spectators.

Generations of Rochdalians will remember learning to swim at the baths and going into the upstairs café afterwards for mugs of steaming Oxo and hot buttered toast accompanied by the heady smell of Chlorine from the pool below.

The building cost £67,131 to build and was designed in the popular art deco style with many state-of-the-art features including a Royle filtration system and a basement laundry where soiled towels were washed having been disposed of in the wooden chutes in the changing rooms. It was originally heated by waste burned in the Cleansing Department’s nearby refuse destructor.

The slipper baths hailed back to the days when many working-class homes were not equipped with bathing facilities or indoor lavatories. This reporter well remembers being sent there prior to the annual holidays and Christmas to be ‘tubbed and scrubbed’.

For the princely sum of 2d in pre-decimal currency, you were issued with a towel, a small bar of soap and a scrubbing brush. You were then shown into a bathing cubicle by an attendant. This contained a very large, deep bath with enormous taps where, with an endless supply of hot water, you had 30 minutes to get rid of your accumulated grime before the attendant knocked on the door and called out loudly: “Time’s up!”

A penny squirt of Brylcreem from the dispenser on the wall completed your pre-holiday toilet arrangements!

The baths have now been replaced by the new Central Leisure Centre next door.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/68669/share-your-memories-and-take-a-tour