Bath Place Community Centre engulfed in flames

Fire has spread through the Bath Place community venture in Leamington Spa, leaving the building severely damaged.

The blaze started in the community centre at around 3pm and quickly grew in size, requiring eleven fire crews from across Warwickshire to extinguish it.

The fire led to road closures and smoke could be seen from across Leamington Spa as fire crews battled with it from all sides of the building. Everyone in the building at the time was evacuated safely. The cause is currently known but renovation work was taking place on the roof of the centre at the time of the fire.

Bath Place was founded in 1974 in a converted Victorian school by local people seeking to create a community hub in south Leamington. Four years ago it faced closure after losing key grants, but a local campaign helped to secure new funding, and since then the centre has undergone extensive renovation work.

At the time of the fire it provided a range of important services to the local community including childcare, language classes and a successful café serving vegetarian food at very low prices. Numerous volunteering schemes have been run from the centre, and recently it expanded into a local history project with National Lottery funding.

As well its role in the local community Bath Place had many links with Warwick students, particularly campaigning societies like RAG, who helped raise funds for the recent renovations. The centre’s director, Steve Baylis, is also a member of Student Union’s board of trustees.

Bath Place was an important resource for students, explains Sami Wannell, Union Welfare Officer, as “a number of societies, sports clubs and individual students use the community centre for film showings, meetings, hosting visiting sports clubs, and any number of other things.” Getting more Warwick students involved in community activities was also an ongoing aim of the centre.

The council and other local organisations have rallied in response to the fire, offering the use of converted railway arches, a local classroom and space in the town hall to allow the centre to continue its activities while the damage to the building is assessed.

The response from Warwick students has also been positive, states Wannell, and “a lot of students have expressed their will to help with any refurbishing work that’ll need to be done.”