What made Govanhill Baths so essential to the community? Why did residents occupy the building to save it, leading to the formation of Govanhill Baths Community Trust? When will the Baths reopen? In this article, Paula Larkin, archivist for the Trust, delves into these questions, exploring the rich history of the Baths and the campaign to preserve them.

This article was published as part of our Timeline of Resistance article in Issue 14 of the magazine.

By Paula Larkin | Photos by Nick Sims

Built for the industrial working class, baths and washhouses were opened to improve the health and fitness of local people. Govanhill Baths on Calder Street was designed by Glasgow City architect, surveyor and engineer, A. B. McDonald, and was formally opened on 28 February 1917. This is the incredible story of how and why the Baths were saved by the people of Govanhill. One of the most inspiring and significant fights for social justice in Glasgow’s history.

At the time of the Baths' opening, the local people were mainly Irish, Jewish, Italian and Rural Scots. The Baths served not only these communities but were the preferred option for all of the Southside. It featured three swimming pools on the ground floor, a seating gallery for 400 spectators around the main pool, a Turkish bath, slipper (individual) baths and eighty-one stalls in the ‘Steamie’ (wash house).

When it opened it was described as ‘palatial’ and ‘the finest in the Kingdom’ and considered a ‘wise extravagance’ by the Glasgow City Corporation. It made competitive amateur swimming geographically and economically accessible to all. The Baths were also a space for women as the steamie granted a space for them to socialise, connect and learn to swim in a women’s only pool.

It was a hugely popular place in the heart of the community, used by all, for generations. In 1917 Glasgow was considered ‘the second City of the Empire’, per head of population it had more baths and washhouses than any other city in the UK.

The 1998 Glasgow City Council’s ‘Sport For Life’ report assured that the Govanhill Baths would not be closed, even after the Pollokshields Baths were closed the following year. In January 2001 swimming clubs using the Baths received a letter instructing them to find other facilities. This was totally out of the blue. The council then published their budget proposal for 2001/2002 which contained the proposed closure of Govanhill Baths and the leader of the council, Charlie Gordon announced the closure in the Evening Times. The people were outraged.

They couldn’t understand how the council had come to this decision and were angry about not being consulted. Parents from the Kingston Amature Swimming Club got together with the Govanhill & Crosshill Community Council and other local user groups and individuals. They held a public meeting, and the Save Our Pool – Southside Against Closure (SAC) Community Action Group was born.

Other local services like the Breast Screening Unit and the Social Work Department had already closed. Hence, SAC burst into action, holding weekly meetings, writing letters, and emails. Phoning council representatives, the press and others to express their disbelief, and anger and hoped that the council would listen to the community to reverse their decision.

The council said that the Baths required £750,000, previously estimated at £250,000, to be repaired and that ‘this was uneconomic’ because it ‘was insufficiently used and past its useful life’. The Baths were still as popular as ever. In February, SAC held a children’s pavement protest outside the Baths and a march along Victoria Road. They launched the Save Our Pool petition, which gathered over 30,000 local signatures, and organised a protest outside the City Chambers. Then Glasgow City Council leader, Charlie Gordon personally refused to accept the petition. Five days later the council committee met to ratify the budget cuts and approve the closure of Govanhill Baths.

Charlie Gordon said the council would conduct a feasibility study after closure. Campaigners claim that he refused to speak to Govanhill residents and pool users at his Knightswood surgery (and that he locked himself in the office and was allegedly seen from the window crouching behind the door listening at the keyhole – yes this was the Leader of Glasgow City Council!). SAC and Save Our Pool published a dossier, ‘Sport for Life for Who?’ which detailed hard facts, key government policies and evidence from professional bodies which all challenged the closure.

SACS outlined their demands to keep the pools open and for a community consultation to be carried out and a march and rally of 600 people was organised from Queen’s Park to Govanhill Park, urgently calling on the council to reconsider. The protests were attended by prominent figures including Nicola Sturgeon, Robert Brown, Dorothy Grace Elder, Tommy Sheridan and David Marshall.

The year 2001 was the 30th anniversary of the Upper Clyde Shipyards’ famous sit-in in Govan, so the idea of an occupation was in the air. Kinning Park Centre had also been saved by an occupation so someone said, ‘If you want to save the Baths you’re going to have to occupy the building’. The group were now consciously organising a sit-in but couldn’t broadcast it.

On 21 March 2001, ten days before their proposed closure, a dozen campaigners arrived separately at the Baths for the last swim of the day. They got changed and then chained themselves to the cubicles and told the manager they were not leaving until Charlie Gordon met their demands. This was the start of the 140 day occupation – the longest occupation of a civic building in British History. Immediately a 24/7 picket was organised outside the building.

In the 2015 documentary about the occupation of the Baths, United We Will Swim, Fatima Uygun, one of the occupiers and current manager of the GBCT, said: “If there's one thing I would recommend to anyone – is to occupy a building – it’s one of the most exhilarating things and you don’t realise how powerful you are – a handful of people saying ‘no we’re not going to go’ just paralyses institutions”.

Another protestor explained that “the point of the occupation was to protect the building and the point of the picket was to protect those inside.”

Shimla Pinks, a local restaurant, and other shops donated food. The whole community got behind the occupation. The campaign was raising on average £80 a day from passers-by.

Qasim Khan, aged 15 at the time said: “Me and a couple of my friends and that – used to come down and support the people who were occupying it – for us, it was a new thing so it was a bit of a buzz… and when we found out what it was for, it was a good cause. It was an excellent feeling. You felt like you were at home, you felt wanted and you felt loved – it was a very good atmosphere out there.”

Occupiers had campaign meetings every week, produced and distributed campaign leaflets, had walkie-talkies for communication inside and outside the building, a website, rotas for the picket line, for food. The council shut off the water and electricity so people had to be wrapped up. In a last ditch attempt to get the council to reverse their decision, they organised a gala day on 31 March, built a stage and had a party, 600 people attended but the council didn’t change their minds.

Every Wednesday night people gathered outside to sing protest songs, written by the campaigners. A songbook and CD were produced, which includes pool protest songs sung to well-known tunes: Our Wee Pool; We’ll Swim Again For A’That; This Pool Is My Pool; All Along The Picket Line. They temporarily occupied other buildings in the city to keep the occupation upbeat, including Bellahouston and Scotstoun leisure centres, Kelvinhall and the Lighthouse.

The occupation was creative, inventive, collective, intuitive and well-organised. It involved the widest demographic of local people: teachers, academics, professionals in health and social care, the unemployed, school children, older members of the community, those from the Irish and South Asian diasporas – just about everyone was represented on the picket line.

Sometimes there were ten or twenty people there, sometimes over 100. The story was covered almost daily by the Evening Times and Glasgow Herald and the council still refused to speak to them and got a court order to evict them. To mark the 100th day of the occupation SAC published, ‘The Future of the Pool – Community Support for a Healthy Living Centre’.

At 4:30am on Tuesday 7 August the sheriff officers, backed by hundreds of police, raided the building and evicted those inside. It took 17 hours for the building to be sealed off in what is now known as the Battle of Calder St. The police used excessive force, two helicopters and mounted police. Over the next two years, residents regularly organised social activities and maintained pressure on the council regarding its plans for the baths and insisted that the baths be opened as a public facility managed by the council.

In 2004 the council advertised the use of the Baths for anyone with a particular interest. The Save Our Pool campaign expressed interest and applied to become a Charitable Trust to run the baths as a not-for-profit organisation. The following year Govanhill Baths Charitable Trust was formally constituted and immediately lodged its interest with the council to convert the baths into a Health and Wellbeing Centre, which was accepted by the council.

Over the years the Baths have been used by the community as an art space, hosting various projects and workshops. Funding was secured to repair the building and restore it so it could reopen as a wellbeing centre. In 2023, external refurbishments of the building were completed, conserving the roof, stone walls and windows. The concrete structure had extensive repair, with historic features preserved and structural alterations were made to the buildings reopening.

A funding shortfall of £6.5 million halted internal repairs and delayed the opening until 2025. GBCT is now seeking additional funding to ensure the Baths can reopen. The space is planned to have two swimming pools with women’s only classes, a sauna, a gym, and a café contributing to the regeneration of the area and meeting the needs and aspirations of our community.

This article is informed by Dave Sherry's essay The Save Our Pool Campaign in United We Will Swim, 100 Years of Govanhill Baths. Edited by Helen de Main. 99 Calder Street: A History of Govanhill Baths and Washhouse, Bruce Downie and other primary source materials in the Govanhill Baths Archive. For more information please contact archive@govanhillbaths.com.