Bath Assembly Rooms are temporarily closed as work continues on the ambitious plans to breathe new life into this historic building. Conservation and construction work is underway to transform the building for a new Georgian visitor experience and a place for 21st-century assembly.
The National Trust has owned the Assembly Rooms since 1931 and in March 2023 we took on its day to day management, welcoming in as many people as we could. Helping us to test ideas and learn about the property as plans got underway to create a new Georgian experience.
In February 2025, we closed the doors to enable the restoration work to begin.
Bath Assembly Rooms will remain closed until 2027 when the new experience is due to open, transporting visitors back to the social scene of late eighteenth-century Georgian Bath.
This page will be continually updated during the project to bring you the latest news and developments as they happen.
Over the last few years, a team of curators and volunteers have been busy researching Georgian life in Bath, focussing on the people that came to the city to work, live or visit during that time.
They’ve been developing the back story of a set of characters that will bring the new Georgian experience to life. Through these characters visitors will learn about Georgian Bath in a way that complements the existing Georgian stories already told in the city.
Follow the characters as they prepare for a lavish ball that will take place in the Ball Room. From the master of ceremonies and the hired help to the season’s debutant and her love interests.
As the characters stories unfold, visitors will see all aspects of the ball in the 18th century, from preparing the room, to attending the ball, and the clean-up afterwards.
Each character is rooted in stories from real people and whilst the building is being transformed, the curators will be finalising the details of the real stories that will be used, from the clothes they’d have worn to the circumstance they found themselves in, and finding real objects from that time that helps bring it to life.
We’re uncovering the history of the Rooms and the people who were working, living in or visiting Bath in the 18th century to build this experience. Our characters will bring the ball to life as you see them appear throughout the building and understand their lives, work, opportunities, fears and fortunes. Visitors will get a sense of every aspect from the grit to the glamour.
During WWII much of the original fabric of the ‘Upper Rooms’ was lost when the building sustained heavy damage from bombings. Our plans include reinstating modern replicas of some of those lost features.
Some of the floors will be replaced with new oak floors as they would have been when first built. A grand new, Georgian inspired, modern staircase will replace the 1960 installations.
The front doors will be replaced with new ones that reflect the original character of the building and the eighteenth-century portico columns.
The ten original Georgian chandeliers have been taken down and are in a conservation studio having some much needed TLC before they return to the Assembly Rooms and other objects such as the Root Benches and Messel mirrors are being assessed and a plan put into place for how they can be looked after for years to come.
After nine months of our contractors being onsite at Bath Assembly Rooms, the transformation is really taking shape. This is an ambitious project and there is much to do inside the property to make it fit for the 21st century and climate change, but the work is progressing well. After two-years of careful planning and consulting, it's exciting to see the transformation taking place and I'm looking forward to the installation of a brand-new visitor experience which will start in 2026. When Bath Assembly Rooms reopens in 2027, the restoration will bring a sense of the Georgian splendour and anticipation of ball nights, similar to when it was first opened in 1771.
Discover the significance of the ten Georgian chandeliers that light Bath Assembly Rooms and hear about the conservation that is planned and the role they'll play in the new visitor experience. This video shares interviews from when the chandeliers were being dismantled ahead of project works commencing.
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Part of the renovations include improvements to reduce the buildings reliance on fossil fuels. A new sub-station will be installed freeing up capacity for surrounding residents and businesses on the local electricity supply and enabling us to remove the old and inefficient gas boilers. The new substation will be connected to air source heat pumps which will power the new heating system in the building - switching us off gas and reducing the carbon emissions of the Grade 1 listed property.
Some of the windows are being replaced and fitted with triple glazing, whilst others will have draft excluders added to improve heat retention.
We want everyone to feel welcome at Bath Assembly Rooms.
We’ll be installing a new lift that accesses all four floors of the building. The new main doors will open automatically, and a Changing Places toilet is being added.
There will be a space in the building created exclusively for use by community groups enabling everyone in Bath to use the Rooms – read more about this in ‘Reconnecting the Rooms’.
At this stage we estimate the project to cost in excess of £17million.
Much of this has been funded through National Trust reserves and internal funds, but there is still a challenging fundraising target to help realise these plans.
We aim to raise £3.2million from fundraising, so far, we’ve raised £2.4million from a range of sources including Individual Donors and Charitable Trusts and Foundations.
A new fundraising campaign launched in February 2025, inviting individuals to donate £250 and in return join the Luminaries, which offers a number of benefits including behind-the-scenes updates and free tickets when it opens. Find out more about the Luminaries.
Help with conservation of the historic Assembly Rooms and plans for the future Georgian experience.
Could help us keep the chandeliers clean
Running alongside the main project work, is ‘Reconnecting the Rooms’. Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and made possible thanks to National Lottery players, this project aims to bring people together to share the history of Bath Assembly Rooms.
Demonstrating the relevance of the history to today and helping to shape the future use of this historic space, it aims aims to reduce loneliness, improve connection with the city’s heritage and widen skills development opportunities.
‘Reconnecting the Rooms’ will use social histories and exciting new research as the basis to inspire new perspectives on the Rooms.
We’ll be taking the history and stories out to the communities in and around Bath through ‘Rooms on the Road’ – a series of workshops with community groups where people can learn and reflect on what the residents of Georgian Bath experienced during a visit.
We’ll explore how communities today might like to use the Assembly Rooms, so it is truly reflective of its original ethos and the people it serves when it reopens.
November 2025
Where the cold store walls and the lift were removed, it revealed the original windows which mirror those at the other end of the Card Room. They had been painted black, this has been removed, the wood sanded and the sashes repaired before being put back into their openings.
Explore the objects and works of art we care for at the Assembly Rooms on the National Trust Collections website.
The Luminaries is a new way to give support to Bath Assembly Rooms. By joining you'll receive exclusive updates and benefits.
Read more about 'Reconnecting the Rooms' a project funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which aims to bring people together in new ways. Discovering untold stories of the people of Georgian Bath and connecting communities today with its heritage.
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