No, the Fashion Museum isn't open in Bath right now. It left its longtime home in the Assembly Rooms in 2022 and is closed while its collection sits in storage and a new permanent site is built in the city centre, with a target reopening date around the end of 2030. If you came to Bath expecting to see it, you'll need a different plan for this trip.
Why it closed
The museum operated for decades inside the Assembly Rooms, a National Trust property. The Trust enforced a break clause in its lease that required the museum to vacate, and the Fashion Museum left in October 2022. The Assembly Rooms themselves are expected to reopen under the National Trust with a new visitor experience of their own, separate from the fashion collection that used to be housed there.
Where it's going instead
The museum's new, permanent home will be the Old Post Office, a former postal building in Bath's Milsom Quarter in the city centre. In May 2026, Bath & North East Somerset Council granted planning permission for the redevelopment. The new site is intended to give the museum more than double the floor space it had at the Assembly Rooms, enough for a bigger, more ambitious display of its collection.
| Milestone | Status |
|---|---|
| Left the Assembly Rooms | October 2022 |
| Planning permission granted (Old Post Office site) | May 2026 |
| Construction start | Expected winter 2027 |
| Target reopening | Around end of 2030 |
Funding has been building steadily: the project has secured a £7.2 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, and reported costs for the whole redevelopment have risen from an original estimate of around £37 million to a more recent figure of about £54 million, reflecting the scale of what's being built. Construction is expected to start around winter 2027, ahead of the targeted opening roughly three years later.
What's happened to the collection in the meantime
The collection itself, more than 100,000 items spanning roughly 400 years of fashion, from 1600-era garments to contemporary pieces, hasn't vanished. It's in storage while the new site is built. Rather than sitting completely out of sight, the museum has launched "Fashion Unpacked," a touring mini-museum that takes selected objects out into the community: pop-up displays and events in and around Bath, letting people see pieces from the collection in person ahead of the full reopening. Check the museum's own site for current Fashion Unpacked dates and locations if you want to catch one of these while the main building is closed.
What to see in Bath instead, right now
If fashion and costume history was the specific draw, Bath still has plenty to fill the gap while you wait for 2030:
- The Jane Austen Centre covers Regency-era dress and society through its exhibition and costumed actors, and visitors can try on reproduction Regency clothing.
- No.1 Royal Crescent is a restored Georgian townhouse with period rooms and some costume displays, giving a feel for how people actually dressed and lived in the era the Fashion Museum's collection largely covers.
- The Holburne Museum has decorative arts and portraiture from the same Georgian period, a different angle on the same world of fashion and manners.
If you'd rather plan a wider day around Bath's historic sights while the Fashion Museum is out of action, our one day in Bath guide covers the attractions that are open now.
Should you still come to Bath for fashion history?
If the Fashion Museum specifically was your reason for visiting, it's worth waiting, or catching a Fashion Unpacked pop-up if the dates line up with your trip, rather than coming now expecting to see the full collection on display. For everyone else, Bath's Georgian architecture, the Jane Austen Centre and No.1 Royal Crescent cover similar ground in the meantime, and the eventual reopening at the Old Post Office is shaping up to be a considerably bigger museum than the one that closed.
It is worth checking the museum's own website and social channels before you travel if fashion history matters to your trip, since Fashion Unpacked pop-up dates and locations change, and a construction project on this scale can shift its own target dates as work progresses.