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This establishment was set
up by Dr Barter three years before his Turkish Baths for the Destitute Poor
('The People's Turkish Baths') opened in Cork.
This establishment was set
up by Dr Barter three years before his Turkish Baths for the Destitute Poor
('The People's Turkish Baths') opened in Cork. Although Belfast was
recognised as 'a great and populous manufacturing and maritime city'
these were the only baths open in 1860, apart from some privately owned
slipper baths.
Although it
continued to be known as the Working Class Turkish Baths until at least
1872 (ie, two years after Dr Barter's death) it does not appear to have
been very successful. Thomas Coakley, the manager, wrote to Richard
Metcalfe in 1872 saying
that,
…though…in operation here about twelve years, yet, so very
few avail themselves of them, that, in fact, they are not worth
keeping open, inasmuch as they are not paying expenses.
In 1894 the baths were taken over by John North who, in 1882,
had purchased Barter's large Dublin establishment in
Upper Sackville Street.
North renamed
them 'Hammam Turkish Baths' to link them with those in Dublin.
Whether they became more
profitable under his aegis is not known, and it has been suggested
that North sold them on a mere five years later. However this still
needs to be confirmed, and the first reliable mention of Joseph
Armstrong as proprietor is not until 1912. (North retained the
more successful baths in Dublin till 1922 when they were destroyed by
fire and explosions during the civil war.)
Joseph, and later Oliver,
Armstrong continued running the baths till early in 1936 before they
finally closed. Profitable or not, much regret was expressed at the
closing down of such a popular Belfast institution. It was
suggested that the City Corporation should purchase and run the baths
and a meeting of the Baths and Lodging House Committee met on 11 August
1936 to consider such a purchase.
However this
did not materialise and the baths remained empty for some time.
It was not for another
ten years that the building was demolished in November 1946 to make way
for a new garage.
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