I. have copied these posts to a new thread . The following information is from the English Heritage book "Victorian Turkish Baths" by Malcolm Shifrin.
The first Turkish Baths were opened by James Melling in The Crescent in September 1862. This was followed shortly after on boxing day 1862, when William Edward Wiley tentatively opened his baths, followed by a formal opening on 13th February. He decided to charge the same as Mellish (3s6d, 2s6d,1s6d & 1s) but also offered free admission to the working classes "on the recommendation of any medical genteman". Originally Wiley estimated the baths could cater for 200, but later scaled that down to a more reasonable 50.
The site of Wiley's baths was the site of another of his enterprises, his pencil & pen factory in Frederick st, built in 1862 mainly to hold his pen business, but which, at the north end,next to the boiler house, also held his Turkish Baths. The baths covered three floors, working men on the first floor, gentlemen on the second, and ladies on the third floor, the ladies section opening slightly later. Despite the class distinction each suite apparently was the same, comprising a 10ft long cooling room, three hot rooms (55-77°C or higher) and a shampooing room. The experience was exotic. On entry male bathers would be greeted by a bare-footed boy in Turkish costume, would remove shoes and be taken to the cooling room which had stained glass and arabish decoration. and red-curtained cubicles and couches. Chess , billiards , papers and chibouks (long clay pipes) were available. It is not clear whether those on the first floor were similarly treated, or indeed what was the procedure for ladies.
The hot rooms had Sicilian marble walls, with a wooden bench in the centre. A hose was in the shampooing room.
The baths closed around 1870 , but the main building remains as the Argent Centre.
Of the three entrance that were necessary to separate working class from "gentlemen" and ladies, two are now blocked up, but one remains, and the position of the others can be seen
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