Hall could be sold to fund church regeneration

Grade II listed St John the Evangelist church wants to use improvement works to launch a £1.5m transformation to create a “multi-purpose building fit for the 21st century”.

However, Rev Jonathan Wilkes last week warned Spring Grove residents the church, in Grove Lane, Kingston, may be forced to sell St John’s Parish Hall to help pay for the plans.

The 109-year-old venue, also in Grove Lane, is used by Kingston Kindergarten, two badminton clubs and the Spring Grove Fringe theatre group.

The plans for the church include a performance venue, cafe facilities and flexible worship space.

However Karol Smal, treasurer of the Spring Grove Residents’ Association, said: “They could sell the hall and still not have enough money to turn the church into a community centre, so we would have just lost what’s essentially the centre of the community.

“A lot of people who use the hall consider it as a secular venue, and that’s why they use it. They don’t necessarily want to play badminton in a church.”

Jonathan Rollason, chairman of the amateur theatre group, said the community would help the church find alternative ways of raising money.

He said: “It would be very sad if the church does have to sell the hall because it has been a pillar of the community for more than 100 years.”

Rev Wilkes stressed St John’s would prefer not to sell it, but had to consider all options.

He said: “We fully understand the love people locally have for the hall – we share it ourselves – and we know lots of people, over a long period of time, have worked very hard to help keep the hall maintained, for which we have nothing but gratitude and admiration.

“However, what we are faced with is trying to work out how to make best sense of the future in relation to the two community spaces in the neighbourhood.

“Their future needs to be considered alongside each other.”

He said a decision was likely within three months, but the community would be consulted if a sale looked likely.