Immediately opposite Titanic Guest is a gem of Victorian architecture – the Templemore Avenue Public Baths and Swimming Pool – built as one of four public bathhouses in the city during the late 1880’s.
In the heavily industrialised area of East Belfast, the baths were primarily intended to meet the hygiene and public sanitary needs of the community, where the occupants of surrounding small terraced houses did not necessarily have the benefit of personal washing and bathing facilities.
Opened in 1893 the pool and baths have served over five generations representing thousands of people from this community.
Men and women from the shipyard who worked on the Titanic, as well as others from the Ropeworks and other factories, used the baths and pool for their Friday night wash before heading out to the dance halls. Now known as Templemore Swim and Fitness Centre, the facility was saved from closure in the early 1980’s by a voluntary committee.
It recently received five million pounds from the Lotery Fund to restore it, because of its historic value.
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