Friday, March 20th, 2026
Dyson Takes 50% Bath Rugby Share | Social Care Workers Strike | Bath Family Home Setting Net Zero Standard
🏉 Sir James Dyson has bought a 50% stake in PREM Champions Bath Rugby, reports the BBC. A statement on the Bath Rugby website explains that the stake comprises the team itself, Arena 1865 - the club’s stadium development company - and the Farleigh training facilities.
😎 Bath Rugby CEO Tarquin Macdonald tells Somerset Live what the deal means for the club.
🏟️ Dyson, Britain’s fourth richest person, has been a long-time fan of the team and a regular at The Rec, reports the Independent. He joins Bruce Craig as a co-owner of the club. The two are friends.
☎️ The Telegraph reports (paywall) that the move comes after the RFU scrapped relegation.
💸 SportsPro points out that another billionaire investor highlights the fact that professional rugby lacks the same commercial appeal as other sports. Three teams – London Irish, Wasps and Worcester - all went bankrupt in recent seasons.
🚨 A Corston nursery worker has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing children, reports the BBC.
🪧Council social care workers held a one-day strike this week to protest changes in pay and grading, reports the Bath Echo.
🦠 While meningitis deaths at the University of Kent have made national headlines, the BBC reports on the Bath Spa University student who survived an infection and what regional universities are doing to prevent further cases.
↪️ Read NHS guidance on what meningitis is, its symptoms, how it spreads and how to respond.
📊 Independents and Conservatives on Bath & North East Somerset Council have called for a limit to the number of political leaflets being distributed, reports the Bath Echo.
📣 Speaking of politics - and trust - this piece by Barry O’Leary, a former Parish and Mendip District Councillor, published by Somerset Confidential, is an astute diagnosis of local politics generally and well worth a read:
🏛️ The Council says there have been fewer visitors to the Roman Baths than expected - though numbers are still in line with major London museums.
🇺🇸 More Americans are visiting than before the pandemic—rising from 16% in 2019 to 28% in 2024. The Council projects visitor numbers to rise 3.4% in the coming year and attributes the recent fall to a range of factors:
↪️ The stronger pound making the UK less affordable for US and European travellers. ↔️ Global political instability ↔️ Fewer Chinese visitors: pre-Covid mandarin speakers at the Baths were 120k per year, falling to less than half in 2025. ↔️ New visa rules for the UK. Full details here, see page 43-44.
♻️ Read how one Bath family turned their freezing Edwardian terrace into a warm family home and set a national net zero standard in the process...This Times article is behind a paywall.
Weather
☀️😎🌻 Now that’s more like it Mr. forecast!
🏖️ If the sunshine has you heading for the coast, check out our friend and BBC colleague Justin Rowlatt’s story on the world’s longest coastal walking path opening in England.
📌 Bath Bee Noticeboard
🦋 The Curious Minds Festival continues!
✨ Highlights include:
✍🏻 John Crace at St Swithins tonight
🎤 All Stars Poetry Night with Jasmine Gardosi, Tyrone Lewis and Anthony Anaxagorou
🎬 Movie at the Museum: A Knight’s Tale
🎟️ Book here. ⏳
💬 Talk: Reading the Records of Enslavement
📆 2 April 2026 ⏰ 6:00pm - 8:00pm
📍Beckford’s Tower
🎫 Book here
🎨 Motherland exhibition
📆 23rd–30th March ⏰ Open daily, 10am–5pm
📍Bath Artists’ Studios
✨ Private View (open to the public): 23 March, 7–9pm with a bar and live music. ✨
🔬 Pint of Science returns 18-20th May:
Researchers from @uniofbath will be coming to @stjameswinevaults @bathbrewhouse and @saracensheadbath to tell you all about their latest research! 🧐🧫🏉📡
🎟️ Ticket sales live on 13th April 👀 ONLY £5!
City & Region
❎ The Bath Preservation Trust has warned that meeting central government housing targets will result in the loss of some of Bath’s greenbelt. The BTP has posted its reasoning on its website here.
🤬 The Bristol Cable - one of only 29 journalism cooperatives worldwide -has published a new investigation into the Far Right in the city.
↪️ The Cable’s Editor joins us at BRLSI tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. as part of a discussion on the value of local public interest journalism. Tickets here.
👗 A Bath councillor says the Fashion Museum refurbishment is not overrunning in costs, after Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse said it would cost more than the £40m previously stated. “Bath council is in the process of bringing together £54 million for a new fashion museum in Bath – I am particularly excited about that, because I like fashion,” said Ms. Hobhouse. A councillor explained the discrepancy to Local Democracy Reporter John Wimperis in the Bath Echo.
↪️ Meanwhile the Council has announced an ‘ambitious’ new cultural plan - if you can work out the details, let us know! (We’re currently on p 48!)
🔋 A Somerset electric battery gigafactory is to have its business rates waived for 25 years, reports the BBC.
🤳🏽 A plan has been submitted EE and Hutchison 3G UK to erect a new phone mast outside Bath City Farm, reports the Bath Echo.
🏛️ Plans have been submitted to protect the historic Grade II-listed pillars at the top of Ralph Allen Drive, which have taken knocks over the years from trucks of up to 7.5 tonnes which didn’t exist in 1740, reports the Bath Echo.
🌊 Somerset will receive £89.9m from the government to spend on flood prevention measures, which the Environment Agency says will help protect homes and businesses, reports the BBC.
🌅 Weston Super Mare’s historic pier - closed since 1994 - is to be refurbished, reports the BBC.
Crime
🐄 Warrants have been issued for two men facing cattle cruelty charges, reports the Bath Echo. The animal welfare case charges are being brought by BANES Council.
👮🏻 Two Bath girls received anti-social behaviour injunctions at youth court on Thursday 12th March, reports the Bath Echo. The pair, aged 13 and 14, are part of a group of young people who have been causing problems in the city centre, including around the bus and railway stations, according to the Avon & Somerset Police.
🚨 A Bath man stole a bottle of banana rum as ‘medicine’, reports the Bath Echo.
Transport
🚦Two-way signals are in place at St James’s Parade due to an unstable vault below the road, says the council.
🚛 Four lorry drivers have admitted breaching Cleveland Bridge’s weight limit, reports the Bath Echo.
⛔️ A section of the A46 north of Bath is closed overnight for two weeks, reports the Bath Echo.
Sweet stuff 🍯
🇮🇳 This popped up on our Facebook feed: George Dobson Percival Willoughby was a lieutenant in the East India Company and was in the Delhi Magazine when Indian rebels surrounded it on the 11th May 1857 - the start of the great Indian Mutiny. To prevent the Magazine falling into their hands, he blew it up. His body was never discovered, but he was commemorated in a tablet at Bath Abbey.
🎨 Look out for months of open art trails across Bath! Click the image above to find out more!
🥇More than 12,500 people took part in the Bath Half this year. Joe Wigfield and Alex Bell secured wins in the elite race to qualify for the World Athletics Road Running Championships. The Bath Echo has full highlights.
🏃🏾♀️ Entries for next year’s Bath Half are open now. And we just LOVED this video of the final runners crossing that wet finish line! What spirit!
🎩 Top posts from last week’s Bee:
🚛 A Bath boy who loves bin day was surprised with a toy lorry from his local recycling crew.
Best wishes for the talk tomorrow. Wish I could attend. Any idea if it’s being streamed or recorded at all?
Sadly not recorded Michael - but thanks so much for your continued interest and support - I'll include a summary in this week's Bee!!