The Western Baths Club in Hillhead celebrates 150 years

One of Glasgow's best loved institutions has reached a remarkable milestone. The Western Baths Club in Hillhead is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2026, a century and a half after planning permission was granted and construction began in 1876.

The club was one of five private baths clubs built in Glasgow during that period, at a time when the Clyde could no longer be used for swimming and concerns about public health were growing. In Glasgow, when people referred simply to 'the Baths', they meant the Western Baths.

The A-listed building was designed by local architects Clarke and Bell, who both lived in Hillhead, in a style described as Spanish Gothic or Moorish. Visitors are greeted by a grand imperial double staircase and a columned entrance hall, and the pool hall still has its decorative cast-iron roof brackets and much-loved hanging rings and trapeze. When it opened, its 90ft by 35ft pool was the largest in Scotland, a record not beaten until the 1930s.

The club has moved with the times. Women campaigned for equal access for fifteen years in the 1920s and 1930s, and today men and women share equal use of the Turkish and Russian bath suite. Alongside the pool there are classes in yoga, Pilates, Zumba, spin, Aquafit and more, most of them free to members, plus a sports injury clinic, a hairdressing salon and The Deepend Bar and Bistro.

The anniversary year began with a sell-out ceilidh in February, with international ceilidh band Whisky Kiss playing in a sports hall transformed with drapes and a star cloth. In May, a gala dinner was held at neighbouring Oran Mor, beneath the auditorium roof designed by the late Alasdair Gray, a former Baths member who also designed the floor of the club's downstairs foyer.

The celebrations were recognised in the Scottish Parliament, where a motion congratulated the club and praised the late W.M. Mann, whose innovations helped put the Baths on a sustainable footing. His son and grandchildren are still members today.

Committee member Hilary Barclay describes the club's main attraction as a very special atmosphere of friendliness and inclusivity for all ages, abilities and interests. A sponsored swim and a winter ceilidh will round off the year.

The Western Baths Club is at 12 Cranworth Street, Hillhead, Glasgow. Membership details and anniversary events are on the club's website, thewesternbaths.co.uk.