Manchester's Victoria Baths has been refilled for just the fourth time in 30 years - only for this weekend

Manchester’s historic Victoria Baths has been refilled again ahead of a public swimming event this weekend. The Big Splash will take place from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 September at the Grade II-listed building in Chorlton-on-Medlock, with plenty of family fun in store.

Victoria Baths is now more commonly used for events including cinema screenings, the Indy Man Beer Con beer festival and raves, so it’s not often that the public have the opportunity to see the stunning Gala Pool filled for swimmers. This will be only the fourth time since 1993 that it had been filled for public swimming sessions, and is part of the Heritage Open Days initiative.

Making for a unique swimming experience, filling the Gala Pool with water and heating usually takes four days - roughly 96 hours - and takes 407 cubic metres of water to fill the pool, which works out as the equivalent of 1,500 baths, just for a bit of perspective.

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Speaking to the Manchester Evening News ahead of the opening this weekend, Ella Walker, Victoria Baths' engagement officer, said: "The Big Splash weekend is a great opportunity for us to fill our swimming pool up again. We say 'we are often rippling with history, but rarely rippling with water', so it's nice to have some water in the pool.

"It's only the fourth time since 1993 that we've been able to have the pool filled, and this is the first time since 2019, plus it's our 116th birthday today, so we couldn't have chosen a better week to do it. It's really great to see it being filled with water today."

Filled with the support of United Utilities and the Bath’s team of volunteers, swimming sessions will