Bath, Somerset

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Candidate Overview

Bath is one of the most beautiful small cities in Europe with a population of around 95,000. An elegant, largely Georgian city core, built for pleasure and relaxation, with lively contemporary culture and green spaces, Bath has been a tourist destination since the 18th Century; originally as a wealthy upper and middle-class watering-place and now for wider enjoyment of the legacy of that period. The waters are still a big draw today, both at the ancient Roman Baths and the contemporary Thermae Bath Spa.

As well as the stunning architecture, parks and townscape, Bath has a remarkable collection of museums and galleries, associations with Jane Austen, year-round festivals, theatre, music and sport. The drivers of the local economy are tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, design and other creative industries. Many businesses are SMEs often operating from historic buildings divided into business spaces.

In the 1960s and 1970s Bath’s built heritage was threatened by insensitive replanning and demolition that was halted by conservation campaigners. Some of the mid-century redevelopment has now been replaced by more considered contemporary development such as the Southgate shopping centre and nearby station improvements. To some extent Bath is a victim of its own success as it has an almost unmanageable number of day visitors and local property and land prices have made it a very expensive place to live and work in. Yet it contains one of the poorest wards in the UK and has housing and homelessness issues associated with much poorer towns.

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Thumbnail illustration of Bath by David Rudlin AoU, Artist-in-Residence