So what could become of the Playtower?
Historic sites and local landmarks are being transformed and given new leases of life as these three examples of innovative and ambitious regeneration show. The work here has been funded by private investors, councils and the National Lottery. The Playtower Action Group and Ladywell Society are keen to learn and hear about other such regeneration sites
At the Elephant and Castle a Victorian bathhouse has been transformed into a huge indoor skatepark.
In Manchester, an Edwardian swimming pool has become part of a leisure centre that now provides “a vibrant community workspace” with free on-site parking and a “bustling cafe.”
In Stoke-on-Trent, Spode Works a warren of historic pottery kilns and workshops will be transformed into offices, art studios and hubs for creative technology businesses.
33 Manor Place opened as a bathhouse in 1898. It was also a boxing venue for a while. Now Palace, a London based skateboard and sportswear brand, has teamed up with Nike to turn the bathhouse into a huge indoor skatepark.
Hidden beneath the park is a small football pitch which is used once the skatepark has been raised mechanically on six columns. But the building also houses an exhibition and workshop space.
Withington Works is a community workspace above Withington Baths & Leisure Centre, an Edwardian swimming baths that opened in 1913. Withington was the first swimming baths in the city to allow mixed bathing.
Threatened with closure in 2015 it was rescued and run by the local community and then fully restored in 2023-24, thanks to a £1m investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Total cost of the renovation was £2.2m and was enabled with a £1m loan from Manchester council.
It is now run as a non-profit community leisure centre.
Restoration of the pool’s roof which allows natural light to flood into the pool’s hall, was a vital part of the work. The stained-glass windows in the building have also been restored.
The building now houses a pool, gym, exercise and holistic studios, a sauna and a workspace and receives over 140,000 visitors a year, including 800 learner swimmers.
Spode Works, covering around 10 acres in the heart of Stoke town centre, is a warren of buildings, kilns and workshops – an old pottery works. The site includes multiple Grade II listed buildings.
The Stoke-on-Trent city council signed off on a partnership with regeneration specialists Capital & Centric in May 2025. Their aim is to transform the Spode Works into a buzzing neighbourhood of homes, creative workspaces and vibrant public spaces.
The partnership hopes to honour the legacy of a site that was at the centre of the UK’s ceramics industry while repurposing it “for the next generation of digital design, gaming, animation and other creative industries”.
Other Playtower news: After the success of the October 4 open day, the Playtower Action Group feels it is important to open up the Playtower every few months for community activity. Suggestions included a clean-up of those parts of the site that are safe to access, possible occasional use by market stalls and perhaps as a performance space during Brockley Max. The group feels that factoring-in more use of the site might serve to break down the barrier with the local community. The action group also backed the idea of exploring “meanwhile uses” of parts of the site until development work begins.
Local people enjoy chance to look around Playtower grounds at Community Open Day
Great open day on Saturday October 4. More than 60 people took the opportunity to wander around the site, take photos of the building, take part in an art class, and give their views on what should happen to this Ladywell landmark.
The Playtower Action Committee and Ladywell Society hope to plan more events in the future. Thank you to Lewisham council for supporting the event.
