"This church was probably founded in 1752 but before that there was Baptist life in the city. Earlier in the century Henry Dolling joined with other Baptists for worship in a house in Widcombe. Among those who attended was Robert Parsons his nephew.
In 1744 John Clark, a member of the Frome Baptist Church came to live in Bath. He became a friend of Robert Parsons. Other people joined them at the meetings, and a room in Marchant’s Passage was hired.
Robert Parsons was a member of the Broadmead Baptist Church in Bristol as were some others who came to the Bath meetings. In 1752 Parsons and eight others were dismissed from the Broadmead membership to form a church in Bath. Parsons, a stonemason, became the Pastor of the church.
A few years later, the growth of the church justified the building of a meeting house between Horse Street, now Southgate Street, and Corn street. In 1768 the congregation moved to a new meeting house in Garrard Street, later called Somerset Street. Robert Parsons remained Pastor until his death in 1790 and during that time he took no pay for his church work. His son, Thomas, was Co-pastor for a time but he eventually left the congregation.
Somerset Street Baptist Church as it was known continued its life until in the 1860’s the premises became unsuitable. Plans were drawn up for a for a new building on the same site but the church decided to move to a site in Manvers Street instead this being a more agreeable area. This building was opened in 1872.
When the building was opened there was only the Sanctuary, side vestries and the large schoolroom situated beneath. Soon, the church experienced the enormous growth in membership which was fairly common in cities in Victorian times. During the pastorate of James Baillie 1877 – 1886 the numbers on the church roll more than doubled.
Over the years, the church bought pieces of land to the rear and the side of the sanctuary and in 1907 the buildings were added at the back which were known as the Institute. This allowed for more generous and suitable accommodation for the Sunday School and also for club rooms to be used for young people’s and other activities during the week. In due course many of these rooms were converted into offices and a caretaker’s flat. Some of them are used today by various church and independent organisations.
The land where the Coffee shop stands was brought in 1888 for £300 largely to prevent it being built on by the previous owner. It remained unused apart from a Scout club room and a class room at the rear.
For some years the church had entertained the idea of building a friendship centre but this never came to fruition. However, by 1990 a clear vision to build the Open House Centre became apparent. The centre was built in a number of phases. In 1992 the building of phase One was completed. This comprised a new building on three floors. The middle floor is used as a six day a week Coffee Shop maintained and operated by the church. The lower floor was leased to the Bath Churches Housing Association for a period of 25 years to enable them to operate a Night shelter and Day Centre facility for homeless people. The upper floor was leased on a short term lease to Off the Record to provide a free information, advice and counselling service for young people. The Church assisted with the development of Off The Record and is represented on the management Committee.
Phase two was completed in 1997 and provided a new entrance into the building with an access ramp and automatic doors. The existing rooms were upgraded as well as some of the amenities.
The final phase, comprising of the refurbishment and redecoration of the Sanctuary was completed in 2001. Refurbishment included the replacement of heating and lighting systems as well as furnishings and audio system."
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