Warm water baths provided under the

Baths and Wash-houses Acts

< Report on public baths and wash-houses in the United Kingdom / Agnes Campbell. — Edinburgh : Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 1918

Slipper baths provided at the Lower Dartmouth Street Cottage Baths, in Birmingham, around 1910.

Cottage  baths were built in the poorer areas of the big cities where the need was greatest, but the land available for building was limited. They were often converted from private houses. There were separate entrances for men and women and, as usual, the men's baths were more numerous than the women's. Between the two world wars, 

'The routine at the baths hardly varied. One paid and went through a turnstile to join the queue which on busy days might spill out on to the street. The front part of the queue sat on wooden benches, moving up each time the Attendant called "Next!". Children might suffer the injustice of losing their place in the queue when asked to give up a seat for an adult who was still standing, farther down the line.' *

 The twopenny second class baths bought only ten minutes bathing time. 

* Quotation from: Turrets, towels and taps / Rachel Wilkins. — Birmingham : City Museum and Art Gallery, 1984. — pp.8-9
            

This page enlarges an image or adds to the information found on the following pages:

Urquhart and the London Hammam. Part 2: a couple of books and a couple of Acts

Early problems and controversies. Part 6: Class