Stepping back in time for a visit to the old Montpellier Baths

Guest post by Anne Bartlett. An experienced and locally based professional Blue Badge tour guide. Anne provides a relaxed and friendly service for groups visiting Cheltenham for leisure and business. She also offers guided walks of Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cirencester. Discover more – Tour & Explore with Anne Bartlett.

A collage of images of Anne Bartlett, the main swimming bath in 1900 and the reception/waiting room in 1900. Images of the bath and reception room in 1900 by HeritageCheltPlayhouse.co.uk

Do you recognise this building? Yes, it is on the corner of Bath Road and Oriel Road and is now The Playhouse Theatre, a community theatre, which has a fascinating history. It was in fact, the second oldest of the many spa buildings to be built in Cheltenham in the late 18^th and early 19^th century.

A group of us were invited in for a guided tour of the premises, which still has some of the original features dating back over 200 years. After a welcome drink in the modern bar area, we were introduced to our guides Martha and Paul who told us that the theatre had originally been the Montpellier Baths built in 1806 by Henry Thompson as a laboratory for the manufacture of the Cheltenham Spa Salts, hence the tall chimney. We were shown one of the pits where the mineral waters were evaporated to produce tons of salt crystals which were packaged and sold to customers all over the country as a good laxative! 

We went into the main 180 seat auditorium used today for amateur productions and theatre workshops, before going down to the basement under the auditorium to see the original tiled swimming pool used for bathing in beneficial mineral waters. There had also been a slipper bath, a steam room as well as a self-administering enema machine! Cheltenham waters famously gave you two good movements a day!

We were taken upstairs to a large room on the top floor, here we had to use our imagination as originally it had been divided into several public bathrooms. We were told that even the Duke of Wellington, who was a regular visitor to Cheltenham during its heyday as a spa town, had visited several times to take a bath and read the newspapers at the same time.

By 1836, the building had its own steam-powered flour mill and bakery, which made use of the energy produced by the boilers used in the production of the salts. There was a bread shop on the corner of the building where the hair and beauty salon now stands.

Although there have been changes of use over the last 200 or so years, Cheltenham is lucky to still have this interesting historic building. The Playhouse Theatre is a registered charity run by volunteers which is self-financing and dedicated to making performing arts accessible and affordable for all.