Moseley Road Baths, the community-led swimming pool in Balsall Heath, has been teaching Birmingham residents to swim since 1907. Today (Friday, May 22, 2026), the Grade II*-listed Edwardian pool secured a £9,272,950 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund that fully funds Phase 2 of its landmark restoration.
While saved from permanent closure in 2018, Moseley Road Baths has remained shut since 2023 to bring one of Britain’s oldest swimming pools back to life. The grant completes a £16 million funding package to restore the iconic Gala Pool and create a new Community Health & Wellbeing Hub in the community.
“For more than two decades, our community has fought to keep Moseley Road Baths open and to secure its future. Today’s news is a moment of immense pride. We will swim in the Gala Pool again, and this magnificent building will be a home for our community for generations to come. We’re hugely grateful to everyone who has played their part in making this happen, and to the swimmers who supported us along the way.” — Joe Holyoak, Chair, Friends of Moseley Road Baths.
What will Phase 2 of the restoration deliver?
- Full restoration of the iconic Gala Pool, including a restored mezzanine gallery and a new accessible ground-floor public viewing area
- Conversion of Pool 2 into a flexible event space
- Transformation of the Women’s Slipper Baths into a community health & wellbeing hub
- Reimagining of the Men’s Second Class Slipper Baths as a community gym
- Development of the boiler room into a flexible studio space
Phase 2 will follow directly on from Phase 1 works, which commenced in September 2025 and are more focused on restoration of the roofs and making it watertight, alongside basement repairs and the full restoration of Balsall Heath Library—including the addition of a new mezzanine level.
Hard hat tours, activities and events will run across Balsall Heath and the Library throughout construction and in the lead-up to the Baths’ reopening (currently expected in late 2028), alongside employment and training opportunities for local people.
When it does reopen, expect Moseley Road Baths to offer new accessibility features—like poolside and dryside changing facilities, pool hoist and pod, lift and ramp access, and wheelchair-accessible changing and viewing areas—as well as SEND, LGBTQ+, women-only, dementia-friendly, para and disability, and sensory swimming sessions.
The Heritage Fund grant joins commitments from Birmingham City Council (£5.1 million towards Phase 2, part of a £10 million total commitment to the project), the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund (£970,455, supporting environmental performance through air source heat pumps), Garfield Weston Foundation (£350,000), the Architectural Heritage Fund (£250,000, supporting the creation of a wellbeing hub), the Edward Cadbury Trust (£50,000) and the Saintbury Trust (12,000).
“Moseley Road Baths is a real Birmingham icon and it’s now closer than ever to reopening to the public because local people never gave up on it,” said Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands. “I’m proud to back them with the funding needed to make the baths more sustainable and to keep energy bills down.”
