Vinyl Sessions at The Roman Baths 2025
Six weekends of vinyl. Fifteen speakers. One world-famous heritage site. With Bath Carnival, we turned the Roman Baths into a surround-sound experience like never before
The historic Roman Baths were transformed this summer as POLYMATHIC and Bath Carnival co-produced Vinyl Sessions, the Friday and Saturday strand of Summer Lates - a six-week programme of after-hours events blending deep history with cutting-edge sound.
Running from 25 July – 30 August, Vinyl Sessions invited audiences to experience vinyl DJ sets through a 15-speaker Genelec surround system installed around the entirety of the steaming Great Baths.
For POLYMATHIC, this marked a milestone: our studio's first major commission in a world-renowned heritage site, bringing contemporary culture into one of the UK's most iconic landmarks.
Celebrating culture in new ways
Founder Nigel Fryatt commented:
“It’s brilliant to see our City embracing this kind of experience, bringing joyful, soulful music into one of Bath’s most iconic heritage spaces. The Summer Lates place the Roman Baths alongside a growing number of historic sites around the world who are reimagining how we gather, listen, and celebrate culture. We’re excited to be part of something so special.”
A bespoke approach to performance at a heritage site
POLYMATHIC designed a bespoke sound solution tailored to the challenges of operating in a live heritage site. Instead of relying on a single speaker stack, fifteen individually controlled speakers were distributed across the venue. This allowed visitors to move freely without encountering overpowering “hot spots” and ensured that ongoing evening tours were not disrupted. Once tours concluded, the entire space was bathed in warm sound which allowed music to be experienced from every angle.
Go behind the scenes on the final test:
Community collaboration and global grooves
This experience was designed in partnership with Bath Carnival who programmed South West selectors from Bacana Funk, Void, SWU, and more, creating sets spanning Latin jazz, rare groove, funk, and soul. The result was a unique convergence of community, heritage, and contemporary music.
Audience and media response
Audiences described the system as “warm” and “immersive,” while DJs praised it as “amazing to play on.” The series attracted wide attention, with coverage in the BBC, The Guardian, and The Daily Express.
BBC: Historic Roman Baths holds twilight music sessions
The Guardian: Singing in the bath: summer gigs bring noise back to Bath’s Roman attraction
The Daily Express: I visited a beautiful 2,000-year-old UK site - 1 thing made it Britain's best attraction
