Bath‘s Fashion Museum is moving to the Old Post Office, a historic landmark in the centre of the city. The museum is also creating a new location in Locksbrook to house its collection.
The £37 million museum and collection archive will open in three to eight years. Bath & North East Somerset Council has submitted a £20 million bid the UK government’s Levelling Up Fund to help complete the project.
Council leader Kevin Guy said the new museum will “engage with a wider range of people, tell a greater range of stories than we’ve ever been able to do before and will help to boost surrounding businesses”.
The relocation is part of the council’s “ambitious 20-year vision to transform the Milsom Quarter of Bath into a fashion destination” for the South West, Guy said.
“The project will not only provide a home for this internationally important collection but will also provide strong benefit to the local area,” he added.
The current Fashion Museum will close on 30 October. The collection will be housed near Bath in temporary accommodation. The museum will continue to loan items to other museums, including the V&A, for exhibitions.
The new collection archive, a collaboration with Bath Spa University, will be accessible to the public, as well as filmmakers and industry specialists.
“The Fashion Museum’s collection is of national and international significance,” said museum manager Rosemary Harden.
Fashion Museum to move to the Old Post Office
“It is one of the best museum collections of fashion and dress in the world, as well as being a vital part of the heritage and cultural history of the city of Bath.”
The Fashion Museum contains more than 100,000 artifacts and attracts 100,000 visitors to Bath every year.
Harden said it is important that the museum can “care for this world-class collection and make it accessible to everyone who wishes to visit, and our future buildings are equipped to allow us to do this”.
She said the Old Post Office “offers great opportunities to display the museum collection in different ways and will allow us to develop future events, exhibitions, learning spaces”.
Images: Fashion Museum
