Ungodly uses for churches

Redundant churches in UK towns are increasingly becoming unserious places. Meanwhile, charismatic congregations looking for more room have found the perfect space to worship: old cinemas.

The most common new uses for an old church are as blocks of apartments, community centres, recording studios and libraries though some have found a more exotic destiny.

St Benedict's church in Manchester has become the Manchester Climbing Centre and a vertical wall with moulded footholds now occupies its tall nave (see photo gallery). Churches have been turned into pubs too: Wetherspoon's, a pub chain, has recently taken over an 18th-century Baptist church in Folkestone, keeping organ pipes and stained glass in place. In Cheltenham, people can go and drink in the Pulpit, another ex-church. And if the project is granted planning permission, a church in Westminster in London will soon become a health spa, with a nail bar in the crypt and a sauna in the chancel.

It is a different story in Britain's fastest-growing congregations, overwhelmingly made up of immigrants living in cities. Rather than take over an old Church of England building, they have moved into old cinemas.

Via agenda < The Economist.