Last semester at UCB a group of Masters Students visited
Matlock Bath as part of their Destination Planning Module. The module looked at
various planning techniques to improve the fortunes of this declining spa town
resort.
Matlock Bath is a ribbon development along the River
Derwent in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside and currently has an ‘Inland
Seaside Resort’ image with an abundance of Fish and Chip shops, Arcades and
B&Bs along a promenade and the length of the river. It is a far cry from the
town’s Victorian heyday, when Lord Bryon described it as Britain’s ‘Little
Switzerland’.
At the turn of the last century, Matlock Bath became an
extremely fashionable and prosperous spa town in the 19th century after been
visited by the Princess (later Queen) Victoria and the Victorian gentry to
partake in the natural spa water treatments developed by John Smedley. His
enterprise established Hydrotherapy in Matlock Bath, and for a century made the
town one of the first health and wellness destinations and the most celebrated
centre for “spa water cures”.
The spa town was given a boost by the arrival of the
railway to Matlock Bath, in 1849, enabling the masses to travel from London and
Manchester in speed and comfort. This brought huge success and economic
benefits to the region, until hydrotherapy became less in vogue and the image
of the town changed, by the Sixties, Matlock Bath had developed into the inland
seaside resort it is today. The Seventies and the Eighties brought large
tourist attractions like the Gulliver’s Kingdom theme park and the Heights of
Abraham cable car ride to the top of Masson Hill. Slowly the hydrotherapy
heritage began to disappear with the site of the original spa baths being
turned into an aquarium. Development of the the Peak District Mining Museum and Life
in a Lens Museum of Photography & Old Times in recent times are a strong tourist draw for the residence of the East
Midlands particularly at weekends and bank holidays. However the seaside resort
images appear outdated with the town vulnerable to the constraints of
seasonality.
So what can the tourism
authorities do to reinvigorate the spa town of Matlock Bath? Should it lose
its ‘Seaside’ image and come up with alternatives to attract tourists to the
region. The Masters Students planned to turn the spa town into an adventure
tourist outdoor pursuit centre using Matlock Baths natural assets such as the
river for canoeing and kayaking, High Tor for climbing and abseiling and
setting trails in the surrounding Derbyshire countryside for rambling and
mountain biking. This we feel would attract visitors all year
round. What of the future? It is
difficult, and a dilemma for the authorities, keep with the seaside image, or
look to alternatives like the out pursuit market or revive the former glories
as a hydrotherapy spa resort. Whatever happens in the future, leisure
activities of one kind or another are well suited to this beautiful part of the
world.
