Govanhill Baths will be a place 'like no other in Scotland' after huge refurbishment

The South Side venue closed at the end of 2018 as refurbishment works of £6.5 million get underway to transform the building into a community health and wellbeing hub.

Not only will the plans save what is an architecturally significant building, they will bring swimming back to Govanhill and provide social, health and creative facilities for one of Scotland's most deprived communities.

Fatima Uygun, manager of Govanhill Baths Community Trust, has been involved in the battle for the Baths since day one.

She said: "It will be worth the wait. It will be a facility like no other in Scotland.

"We want to deal with some of the serious issues locally in terms of health and wellbeing as well as save and preserve the only remaining steamie in Glasgow.

"Govanhill Baths aims to be a safe place to come and be creative and deal with illness in a much more holistic way, where there is no stigma.

"We will be complementing what is already there the Baths was originally established to deal with ill health in Glasgow in a really creative way, so we are going back to that."

Glasgow City Council closed Govanhill Baths in January 2001, as announced by this paper, saying the facility was not earning its keep and would be too expensive to refurbish.

Local outrage lead to an immediate campaign to keep the building open with protestors occupying the Baths from March 17 until August 7 that year.

Sheriffs officers and police turned the protestors out but a picket line remained outside the building for another year.

Govanhill Baths Community Trust was formed to take the building into the control of the community, a lengthy and slow process that has required impressive commitment from those involved.

Fatima said: "The building closed at a time when the Scottish Socialist Party had people in parliament, there was a lot of grassroots activism.

"The [campaign was about the] aspirations of the local community responding to so many closures locally of facilities and shops in Govanhill.

"There were a lot of people fighting back, people were outraged, had had enough and wanting to do something. I wanted to save [the Baths] and still do."

For someone so passionate about a swimming facility, Fatima reveals she can't actually swim - but she has fond memories of the building for other reasons.

She said: "I moved to Scotland [from Australia] in 1997 and lived in Govanhill from 2007. It was right near the park and I liked the diversity.

"Australia doesn't have old buildings like this so when I saw it I thought, 'Wow'.

"I can't swim but I used to go to the Baths for the Turkish, being a good Turkish girl. It wasn't just about swimming, it was about socialising and health.

"You paid your £5 and then off you went.

"You didn't care what you looked like, women were comfortable, it was great. You could go from 6pm to 9pm and take some drink in and you felt like the Baths belonged to you.

"The Turkish Baths were a safe place for gay men and Muslim men who socialised together.

"And it was such a part of the local area. The police had their swimming gala day in the Baths while there were 200 young people Kingston Amateur Swimming Club.

"It was deafening when it was full."

But it has not been an easy journey from taking control of the Calder Street venue to raising the money needed for the refurbishment.

There have been major setbacks along the way, such as in March last year, the Scottish Government announcing it would not give the project an expected £2.1m from the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF).

And there have been impressive achievements such as £268,750 raised through a community shares scheme, one of the most successful community shares campaigns in the UK.

There are 565 shareholders in total.

Fatima said: "Every time we get a negative bit of news feels like two steps back and one step forward.

"There's no despondency but we are left thinking, 'What do we have to do?'

"We have to work ourselves for 17 years saving the building while hotels put in planning permission and six months later the foundation stone is laid.

"There have been times of real frustration but we have never seen ourselves as failing or pulling out of the plans."

Since the opening of Phase 1a of the Baths - unveiled by actor Peter Mullen and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon - the building has been used for a vast variety of community enterprises.

It has hosted the Royal Shakespeare Company, there have been weddings in the main pool and classes such as archery lessons.

Fatima added: "Show me anyone doing all of this.

"We have saved a very historic building that contains the memories of thousands of people who went swimming, had baths, had hen nights - and not just the stoic Irish community you might think of.

"And we have worked with the community to provide so many different opportunities for learning, health and social engagement.

"People had such an attachment to the building but it wasn't really valued in a wider sense.

"You can see that in the museum we have to the steamie.

"There is not one photo of the inside of the Baths - none of our historians deemed it important enough to document women doing their dirty business.

"A museum to amateur swimming doesn't exist yet it's one of the most loved sports in Britain and there's nothing dedicated to amateur swimming."

The Trust has worked to make sure the Baths is a place for everyone in the community, carrying out an extensive consultation in schools, other local groups and online.

A street team was also set up to speak to harder to reach groups with members fluent in Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak, Romanian, Romani, English, Urdu, Punjabi, French, German and Russian.

Fatima said: "We want local people to use the Baths, rather than have it draw people in from other parts of the city.

"We didn't fight for 17 years to give this over to the hipsters - it's for the local community.

"It is really important to us that we have people from the local community using the venue.

"There is no way we will ever let it become unaffordable but we can't subsidise it to the level Glasgow City Council can so we will need to look at innovative funding ideas."

And Fatima is convinced that the people of Govanhill can sustain the Baths.

She said: "We've fought against the idea that people who live in the community don't have the wherewithal to do anything, that we need to look to others for support.

"Govanhill has artists, intellectuals, binmen, and all of these people come with their own skills.

"The outside view is that Govanhill only has the worst elements of the city, the most vulnerable and despised, but there are so many people who love this building, who used it in the past and want to use it in the future."

It is planned that the building will open in 2020.

Fatima said: "People keep telling us how much it's costing - £6.5 million - which is nothing in terms of what the council spends on things.

"People in power think the working class will make do with a crappy bit of PFI and they'll be fine. Why can't Govanhill have the best of everything?

"That's one of the driving forces of this campaign.

"It has always been an investment in the future.

"100 years from now all kids will be able to turn up with their little towel and swim.

"It will be beautiful."