Good to know they’ve sent someone in to secure this historic building once more – but it was a shame to have been once again writing about another architectural piece of Bath’s heritage under threat. Anyone walking in Broad Street on Thursday would have seen that the old KES Junior School had been vandalised.
A door had been forced – leaving the 18th century Grade 2* listed building vulnerable to further vandalism or squatters.
This school taught King Edward’s pupils from 1754 to 1986 and was sold eventually to Samuel Smith’s Brewery in Yorkshire.
I left a message on the answerphone in their press office and hoped someone will get back to me. They didn’t!
The gradual decay of this building has been of great concern. Its owners have so far appeared in no rush to do anything with it or sell it on.
At least the building has now been made secure. Adrian Nelson who is Senior Conservation Officer for B&NES told Bath Newseum:
“I have been in contact with the local retained architects and they have informed me that they are aware of the situation and securing the building.
Many thanks for your interest and informing us of this for which we are very grateful.”
It’s time Samuel Smith’s Brewery either bring forward proposals or sell this historic building to someone who will preserve its future.
The absolute tragedy with this is the shocking vandalism by the current owners who wanted to make it into a pub, and have failed repeatedly over decades. It is good that it has been vandalised. It is good that it can now be squatted in.
In fact, we should be encouraging squatters into the place. It’s about time it became a useful part of our city and not this derelict building.
It is a scandal that this beautiful, historic edifice has been left to rot in a pointless dispute between the brewery who own it and the council who don’t appear to care if it falls to bits.
It closed when the new school building opened in North Road in 1990.
I’m afraid that Sam Smith’s Brewery is in the habit of collecting old buildings and doing them up when and if – and only if – they feel like it. The directors are well aware of the law, and every time a council starts muttering about compulsory purchase, they do it up to the minimum standard required to prevent it. Yet the frustrating thing is that when they do finally restore buildings, it’s done so well they often win awards, as they did again only last year. What do we do? Is it worth a letter-writing campaign to interested parties, including the people who dish out awards?