About The Museum

Bowler-Frame-Web

A Celebration of Bath’s Industrial and Commercial Heritage

The centrepiece of the Museum, covering an entire floor, is the reconstructed engineering and soft drinks factory of Victorian businessman J. B. Bowler.Walk through the workshops and offices and see a complete soft drinks and bottling plant. Some of the machinery is in working order and there are regular demonstrations. Audio guides are available free of charge and guided tours are provided when possible.An introduction to the city’s development is given in ‘Bath at Work: 2000 Years of Earning a Living and an exhibition on invention and the landscape of working Bath, ‘Bath in Particular’, is on show in the ground floor Hudson Gallery.

Bowler-Sign_webOn the other floors there are a reconstructed Bath Stone mine, complete with dripping water, reconstructed workshops of a Bath cabinet maker, a Bath Chair exhibited at the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851, a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles printed in Pitman Shorthand, a singular example of a six-stroke double acting gas engine made by local inventor Samuel Griffin and a unique self-winding clock of 1866 built in the city.

horstman_car1The Museum also has on display a car manufactured in 1914 by the Horstmann Car Company of Bath. This is the earliest known example in the world and is fitted with a kick-starting mechanism and other unusual features. Sidney Horstmann’s car company operated from 1914 until 1928, making around 2000 cars.

The Museum is housed in a former Real Tennis Court, built in 1777. The Museum is close to the Assembly Rooms, Circus and Royal Crescent.

Research Facilities

The Museum holds large historic collections of film, photographs, documents, sound recordings and objects relating to the commercial development of the city. These include over 40,000 glass plate negatives from the local engineering firm of Stothert & Pitt, over 400 taped interviews with local workers and moving film of the city at work.All are available for viewing however if you wish to view the archive collections you must make an appointment.

Cafe 

Please note: Cafe closed until further notice

There is a self service cafe in the main display hall, on the second floor serving hot and cold drinks and snacks. There are W.C.s on the ground floor near the entrance and a disabled W.C. on the first floor near the disabled access at the rear of the building.

Disabled Access

Level wheelchair access is possible through a door at the rear of the building which can be reached from Morford Street. This gives level access to the main display floor and a wheelchair lift gives access to the upper display hall. The disabled WC is next to the disabled access door. Parking can be reserved in the Museum Car Park in Morford Street with advance notice. Please call 01225 318348 for more information and in order that we can reserve you a parking space and prepare for your arrival.

You may also be interested in the following museums in the local area:

There are also a number of local history organisations: