Breathing new life into the Byrne Avenue Community Café

Back in the 1930s, the Byrne Avenue Baths opened to the public in Rock Ferry, Wirral. For generations, this Grade II listed swimming pool complex served the local area. Sadly, in 2009, the local council closed the Baths and the building quickly deteriorated.

Shortly afterwards, the Byrne Avenue Trust was set up to rescue and re-open the facility for the community. The Trust successfully undertook a community asset transfer and was handed the keys in 2017.

Work to restore the Baths was split into two phases. The first was completed in 2022, opening up a large sports hall, multi-use community room and a café. Phase 2 will see the pool itself being brought back into use.

While working on a project for Wirral Council, our Operations Director Matt O’Keefe popped into the Baths and got talking to Trust CEO Jayne Richards. Jayne told Matt that the café servery needed some urgent TLC and he promised that BPC Interiors would help. Soon afterwards, we’d designed the new servery, supplied the necessary base units and worktops and donated 80 hours of labour.

Jayne was delighted with the result. She said: “we really appreciate your support in putting in our serving area. It will make such a difference to the look and feel of the place, as well as making it safer. It will also allow us to start putting on more activities within the café area.”

We’re delighted to have played our part in making the Baths a valuable community asset.