Take The Plunge

 As Harrogate Turkish Baths celebrates a spacial birthday, manager Chris Mason talks to Jo Haywood about its long-lasting appeal

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WE all enjoy a good soak, but 120 years? Just imagine the wrinkles.

Harrogate’s award-winning Turkish Baths first opened for business on July 23rd 1897 and is now celebrating its milestone 120th anniversary while still attracting upwards of 55,000 people every year. It was the most advanced centre for hydrotherapy in the world when it was launched as part of the Royal Baths, where visitors were able to experience myriad water-based treatments including a medicinal waters’ dispensary, mud baths and steam rooms.

During the Victorian era, wealthy folk flocked to the town to ‘take the waters’ and, perhaps, ogle members of royal families from around the world (Queen Victoria’s granddaughters were frequent visitors) who turned up, stripped off (at least a few outer layers) and dived in. But was it a Victorian lifestyle trend (like our quinoa and kale juice) or was it regarded as seriously beneficial to health?

‘I think it’s safe to say a bit of both,’ said Turkish Baths manager Chris Mason. ‘Like all the spa towns in the country, Harrogate was seen as a resort based around the spa waters, with the Royal Baths hydrotherapy centre as the most established and respected in the country, if not Europe.

‘The practice of taking the sulphur water at the nearby pump rooms was seen to have many health benefits and, as such, I imagine you could say was more of a lifestyle and health-conscious choice. But it’s a testament to the Turkish Baths, one of many different options people could partake in, that the trend turned into a substantial mainstay and that we’re still here, along with the pump rooms, 120 years later.’