The Bath AR&CC annual sports ran until 1884 when the sports meeting was taken over by the newly formed Bath Cycling Club. The sports were held at Bath College Cricket Ground on August 4th 1884 on a track 299 yards to the lap. The bicycle races were 1, 2 and 5 miles open handicaps, a 3 miles handicap for Bath CC members and a 2 miles tricycle handicap. The attendance was very good, Bath CC acquitted themselves well and their riders won several prizes.
Bath CC started holding monthly club handicap races on their ground at Kensington Meadows in May 1885 on an oval 250 yards grass track. The machines that were raced in the two miles handicap event make for interesting reading, these were a Kangaroo, a Coventry tandem, a Pioneer safety and a Sparbrook racing tricycle. The annual sports continued at the ground, attracting 2,000 spectators in 1885.
A dispute arose in 1888 when Bath CC were accused of financial irregularities concerning the proceeds from their popular annual sports and a rival ‘Bath City Sports' meeting was set up as a charity event. The City Sports meeting included the one mile NCU West of England championships and six other bicycle races. The Bath CC sports, held two weeks later, put on a first class meeting and did rather better than their rivals financially. The Bath City Sports was not held again.
The Bath Chronicle of 1 August 1889 advertised a Grand Annual Festival organised by the Queen of the West (Bath) Cycling Club to be held on the Bath College Track, this included both ordinary and safety bicycle races. The annual sports went from strength to strength, attracting crowds of up to 8,000 people.
A new limited company called Bath and County Recreation Ground Company was set up in 1894 and its share capital of £3,000 was offered to the public. The company took out a lease from the Bathwick Estate on 15 acres of land at the College Cricket Ground and aimed to provide outdoor sports facilities including cricket, tennis, football and archery. A cycle track was discussed, but the owner of the ground was opposed to this because of the proximity with houses in Pulteney Street. It was however agreed that cycle racing could be included with general sports on a grass track.
The grass track at Bath Recreation Ground was the main bicycle racing venue in Bath and on Whit Monday 1897, Bath CC held a race meeting there in which the two principal events were a 5 miles race for the Bath City Challenge Vase and a 1 mile race for Bath CC members. The Bath CC held two meetings a year, these proved very popular and ran for more than twenty years.
The Recreation Ground company was breaking even by 1897 and in 1901 Bath CC were pressing for a hard track, which would cost £2,000 but the company would not agree. The company paid its first ever dividend in 1910 of six pence per share.
A crowd of 4,000 people attended the 1902 meeting, no doubt helped by the raffling of a bicycle, which helped ensure the financial security of the event. At the meeting, the ½ mile bicycle handicap race required 10 heats and the ½ mile scratch race for the Coronation Cup needed 7 heats. A new feature was tried at the meeting, a 5 miles motor cycle race, but this was not a success and was spoilt due to a ride-over in the final because of a machine failing to start.
The 1906 sports on the Recreation Ground were organised by Bath Wheelers and included the NCU (Bristol centre) ½ mile handicap Championship. The 1907 Bath CC meeting had a record entry of 500 competitors. There was a first class meeting in August 1913 which attracted top quality competition. Again a "Centaur" model bicycle was raffled,.
A new twenty-one year lease for the ground was issued by the land owner Captain FW Forester on 25 March 1908. The lease included the following requirements "to use the said land exclusively for Cricket, Lawn Tennis, Archery, Football and other Games and Public Amusements but never without the permission of the Lessor or his Agent on every occasion for a Bicycle Race or any other race or sport in which the element of betting is introduced."
Bath College closed in 1909 and became the Spa Hotel, which was later re-named the Bath Spa Hotel on Sydney Road. The Recreation Ground was sold to the company in 1922 for £6,050. Bath CC revived their August meeting on the Recreation Ground after the first World War. The 1924 meeting was very successful and attracted 6,000 to 7,000 spectators. Jack Sibbett, the Manchester crack was riding and won the Diamond Jubilee Gold Plate sprint race. In 1929 Sibbett repeated his sprint win and lifted the Dunlop Challenge Cup for the 5 miles scratch race.
There does not appear to have been any significant bicycle racing at the Recreation Ground after 1930. The Bath Recreation Ground still exists and is now a self-funding charity administered by The Recreation Ground Trust, who aim to maintain the ground for sport and recreation for the people of Bath. The ground is the home of Bath Rugby Club and cricket, hockey, croquet and tennis are also played there.
** Bath College was a public school, which opened in 1878 in a private residence formerly known as Vellore House on North Road. The College had their own cricket ground on Pulteney Street, which was used for sports meetings.