The Museum of Bath at Work is the city’s museum of working life and local and social history – the workplaces, factories, shops, trades and industries, and the people who worked in them.  The main display is J.B. Bowler’s carbonated mineral waters factory and workshops, rescued in the early 1970s. Through the programme of permanent displays, temporary exhibitions and community projects, we have explored subjects such as the development of Council housing in Bath; public health and sanitation; coal smoke pollution; and the impact of 19th industrialisation.

We believe that there is a need to tell, and an appetite for, this ‘real Bath’ story – people love to see how familiar jobs have changed (office administration from hand-written ledgers to computers) and also to recognise things that they remember from childhood or from their grandparents. We work with community organisations, schools, and local history groups to research and curate projects and exhibitions.  Come and visit us!