The past, present and future of Haggerston Baths

Haggerston Baths is one of Hackney’s most important historic civic buildings; a large public bath house designed by Alfred W. S. Cross and opened with great ceremony in June 1904. It is also a building that has been disused and out of bounds to the public since February 2000. Since then, the building has been the subject of three separate attempts to revive it. All have come to nothing and its pathway to reopening to the public in some form remains unclear.

The story of the Baths, 2000–2026

The first refurbishment project aimed to undertake necessary repair works and reopen as a public swimming baths within a matter of months of the closure — only the money was funnelled away by Hackney Council to go towards the hopelessly delayed and over budget Clissold Leisure Centre project in Stoke Newington.

The second, initiated a few years later, sought to reimagine Haggerston Baths as a Health and Wellbeing Centre, with a GP surgery, gym as well as a swimming pool. This attracted a sizeable grant from central government but that had to be returned and the project abandoned as the Council was unable to pull together the rest of the funding required.

Lastly, in 2015, Hackney Council began a process that saw it select Castleforge Partners to deliver a redevelopment of the Baths. This mixed-use scheme, dominated by work spaces and promising various forms of public access but not a restored swimming pool, was approved by the Council’s Planning sub-committee in February 2022.

And then… nothing happened. The economics of the regeneration project were shaky even before it gained approval, and became completely unfeasible in the face of increased costs arising from challenges in the construction sector. Coming up for five years later, Haggerston Baths remains mothballed and inaccessible, while its external walls continue to be damaged by bushes growing out of them and its roofs also deteriorate. All while costing council tax payers over £200,000 annually to keep it from declining more quickly.

Its terrible condition and uncertain prospects are recognised by the relevant authorities. The building has been a fixture of the annual Heritage at Risk Register published by Historic England for over a decade. It also appeared in the Victorian Society’s Top Ten Most Endangered Buildings for 2014. Such statuses raise awareness but do not by themselves magic up the millions of pounds needed to secure the future of the 

Rethinking the future of Haggerston Baths event, June 2026

Motivated by the continued lack of any sign of progress (and repeated failure of Hackney Council — which is still the owner — to keep the public informed about the state of play with the Baths), the Hackney Society’s Buildings at Risk Group staged a free public event about Haggerston Baths in June 2026 as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

Titled ‘Rethinking the future of Haggerston Baths’, it provided people with information about what has (and has not) happened with the building and the neighbourhood since it closed, and an invite to share their opinions and ideas about what sorts of things the Baths could house in order to secure its long term future. The event was a great success, attended by 100 people who contributed all sorts of memories and thoughts about the building.

A lot of research and writing went into the event, and some of what was produced has ongoing value for understanding the past, present and future of Haggerston Baths. Below you can find timelines of the history of the Baths and Haggerston from the 1800s to more or less the present day, plus the ‘prompts and provocations’ used to help people think a bit more boldly and deeply about the building’s future.

In the near future we hope to add a digest of the suggestions about future uses of the Baths that were contributed on the 

What happens next

The Hackney Society remains intent on keeping the plight of Haggerston Baths in people’s minds, above all the councillors and staff at Hackney Council in whose hands the future of the building ultimately rests. It is known that discussions are happening within the Council, but the Society wants it to be more open about the work on the future of the Baths. Even reporting no meaningful progress is better than failing to report anything.

We also want the Council to consider different strategies to the high price, do-it-all-at-once approach to regeneration that has been tried and failed more than once before. Phasing work on the building, introducing temporary “meanwhile” uses in parts of it, and considering how it might work best for the benefit of the Haggerston community: all these deserve serious consideration now we are back at square one when it comes to the plans for the future.

Haggerston Baths needs an enormous amount of money in order for it to be restored, reworked and reopened. New ideas and new partnerships, on the other hand, are much cheaper and easier to come by. It is a unique building and its future will be secured by a unique solution. The Hackney Society wishes to see conversations around this opened up so that meaningful progress can be made — and be seen to be made — towards finding that solution.