Bath Assembly Rooms

Excellent venue, and can be enjoyed by all. Nice to see my National Trust membership cash being put to good use. You can feel the history of this building, the music throughout differnt time periods. Just great

You’d never know it to look at me, but Im a fashion lover. So I was really excited to come to the fashion museum. Don’t expect it to be the size of New Yorks Met museum and you won’t be disappointed. At the moment there is a sportswear exhibition on in the lead up to the Olympics. There is also a ‘behind the scenes’ exhibit where you can see changing fashion exhibited in store rooms. Peeking in at things in boxes marked ‘to sort’ appeals to my love of rummaging. I wonder if they’re hiring?! Finally there was an exhibit focused on previous ‘it’ fashion items over the years, which I loved. Finally, I see the mighty Manolo Blahnik will be there in March. I wonder if I can wangle another trip to go see him?

Largely and magnificently renovated to their former glory.
A National Trust treasure administered by the local authority.
Cross the ballroom floor and look up to see the balcony music stand.
The 9 chandeliers within the building are priceless.
The entry fee enables the visitor to see the costume museum in the basement with a changing display of the collection and loan items.

Sharing the same space as the Fashion and Costume Museum downstairs, at least entry to the massive Assembly Rooms is free. Not much to see other than some very large rooms, plus a gift shop selling fashion books and postcards. Very pretty chandeliers.

The Assembly Rooms were completed in 1771 and are now owned and run by the National Trust. Located in the centre of the city, they are open for visitors everyday of the week (for free!) and as well as the rooms themselves there is a café and bookshop, so there’s plenty to keep you occupied for an hour or two. It’s also a popular wedding and function venue, which is great for the magnificent high ceilings and period features, but unfortunately there is a noise limiter in the main room, so if you’re planning on having a live band or DJ, then bear that in mind, as it will affect the performance. I’ve eaten here at a function once and the food was exquisite, but probably very expensive.

An enormous disappointment. I was lucky to have gotten a combined ticket with the Roman Baths, or it would have cost me the full £7!
There were very few clothes, no timeline, and the audio guide offered no real insights. Perhaps it’s my fault, for knowing a bit about fashion history, but surely a museum would be able to teach even the somewhat-​educated something new! Ironically, their best piece (according to me) was their green barely-​there Versace dress Jennifer Lopez wore in 2001.
The highlight of the visit? Being able to try on simplified corsets and crinolines. I’ve got corsets, but it was the first time I put on such a massive skirt!
In great part, the fun came from laughing at the americans trying them on at the same time and saying they’re so difficult to put on! (the corsets had plastic backpack-​clasps!!! not even the real thing!)
If all you have in Bath is one day, I’d say it’s not worth your time.

This was a disappointment. There was no sense of chronological movement through the ages and more frustratingly little or nothing of the Regency and Georgian periods. On a more positive note did enjoy the final displays demonstrating the old and new together — old being 50’s and 60’s virtually replicated in 2008. Some of the audio commentary was also quite thought provoking. It was also lovely to see the Assembly rooms and beautiful chandeliers.

A fabulous museum located in the old Assembly Rooms where Jane Austen (and some of her heroines) danced the night away. The building itself is well worth a visit as it is a great example of late Georgian architecture.
The museum itself is in the basement and is fantastic with exhibits spanning between the seventeenth century and the present day all of which are lovingly preserved and beautifully presented. There is usually a temporary exhibition as well such as the one a few years ago showing costumes from Austen adaptations alongside original clothes from the period.
There is also a lovely café located in the former Card Room and two excellent shops stocked with fashion books and postcards.

If you have any interest in fashion, this museum is well worth a visit. What’s wonderful is how the displays veer from Parisian couture to British home knits, from Regency breeches to 60’s swimming costumes, really managing to give a social fashion history of the UK. It’s not all Comme des Garcons and Schiaparelli, and all the better for it.
Some of the clothes on display here are so old it’s difficult to comprehend. In a dimly lit room are housed the most ancient of all, in contextual room sets with timelines to place the clothes in their era — sometimes you can’t quite believe you’re looking at a frock from the same year Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice. It’s delightful to find yourself dreaming about stepping out in an black dress you’ve spotted in the corner of a glass case, only to find it’s a hundred years old — and yet it’s still totally covetable. Now that’s great design.
Also excellent here is the ever so elegant café and well stocked gift/​book shop. Why not buy a ticket that includes the Roman Baths and combine the two best attractions in the city. Great value at £14, if you ask me.