Parade Gardens is a Grade II listed garden in the centre of Bath. The Gardens are managed by B&NES however, the Council doesn’t own the entire freehold. Instead, the ownership is spilt into two.
The land that forms Parade Gardens, was originally part of the Abbey Gardens and lay outside of the city walls. In 1709 Richard ‘Beau’ Nash encouraged Thomas Harrison to build an Assembly Room at Terrace Walk on the alignment of the city walls. A tree line gravelled walk (Harrison’s Walk) was laid out adjacent to the Assembly Rooms. Admission was by way of subscription.
In 1738, John Wood the Elder began to develop North and South Parade (Grade I), which included a redesign of the Abbey Gardens. Included in the deeds for these buildings was a right over the land which the residents retain to date.
In 1824 the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) was built on the site of Harrison's Assembly Rooms and gardens renamed Institution Gardens.
In c1895 an improvement schemes at the site of Grand Parade commenced. This saw the demolition of the buildings that formed the northern boundary of the Garden, allowing for an extension of the Gardens. In 1923 the Gardens were acquired by the Council and renamed Parade Gardens.
Policy SB2 of the Local Plan supports the re-imagining of Parade Gardens as a 21st pleasure garden and highlights the need for radically improved access to the gardens and the river.
- Provide free access to all and extend opening hours
- Access to the Colonnades from the Gardens
- Improved food and beverage offer
- Better facilitates for events
- Relandscaping and improved access to the river
- Heritage environment
- Lack of utilities
- Constraint access for loading in and out of the Gardens
- Spilt ownership