The war over, there were many in Harrogate who believed it was possible to return to the life of pre-war days. It was a false dream. The Corporation, to its credit, sensed that if the town were to prosper, it would have to adapt to the changing times.
Determined to keep its position at the top of the league table of British spas, Harrogate Corporation progressed its plan to further enlarge the Royal Baths by demolishing all the commercial property between the existing building and the Ginnel/Parliament Street junction to build a series of new treatment rooms. By 1927 the scheme was ready, but financial pressures prevented its implementation.
Harrogate, throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s continued to be the nation’s leading spa, whose income each year exceeded that of the sum of the incomes of all the other national spa’s.
On 14 February 1930, a public enquiry was held in the Spa Rooms to consider the future of the Victora Baths. The Corporation seeking to borrow £35,000 to convert the building into municipal offices, were opposed by the Harrogate Chamber of Trade, the |Harrogate Medical Society and a number of private citizens, all of whom believed that the closure of the Victoria Baths would damage Harrogate’s future as a spa, and introduce too much of the unprofitable bureaucracy of local government into an area of Harrogate which should be dedicated to the town’s economy.
The conversion scheme was adopted, and the new Municipal Offices were opened on 31 October 1931.
Image: Municipal Buildings the year of opening in 1931