New city fashion museum gets funding boost

A museum celebrating fashion will receive more than £1m in funding to help it move to a new location.

Bath & North East Somerset Council received a £1.745m grant from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (Weca) to develop a fashion museum in the Old Post Office in Bath.

It will be a central part of the Milsom Quarter in the city, which will see improved public spaces, better traffic flow and more housing.

Councillor Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: "The project will help attract further investment into the region, generate new employment opportunities, and strengthen the tourism and cultural sectors across the west of England."

The original Bath Fashion Museum closed in 2022 when the National Trust took back the Assembly Rooms, where it had been for nearly 60 years.

Its collection - which has since been stored in a glove factory in Wiltshire - contains 100,000 items spanning 400 years, from 1600 to the present day.

At the heart of the Fashion Museum Bath project is the creation of a new public square in front of the Old Post Office, the new museum, and St Michael's Church.

Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said: "I had the pleasure of seeing some of Fashion Museum Bath's remarkable collection last year, which will soon be brought to life for locals and visitors alike at the heart of the Milsom Quarter.

"It is a real asset for our region."

Construction for Fashion Museum Bath is expected to begin in 2027, subject to planning approvals, ahead of its target opening date of December 2030.

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