Church group bids to convert old Ladywell billiard hall

By Rafi Mauro-Benady

An independent church which runs Lewisham’s largest food bank is planning to convert a dilapidated landmark building into a community hub.

Work is currently under way to transform a Grade-II-listed building, with its art nouveau facade at the junction of Courthill Road and Lewisham High Street.

The former Temperance Billiard Hall, with its art nouveau façade, is currently operated by The Tab Church, based in Algernon Road, Ladywell, and is being transformed into a community centre, conference centre and church.

The Tab Church London is a “trans-generational and multi-cultural church” in Lewisham that uses “the little affluence and large influence that they seem to be gaining from a grassroots level to make a positive change.”

The plan is to turn the Grade II-listed building – which has become a site for anti-social behaviour – into a community centre, conference centre and church.

The planning process started in 2014, with the regeneration of the building being carried out in four phases.

The church is headed by Pastor Mike White, 43, from Sidcup. He hopes the restoration will give the local community a breath of fresh air.

He said: “We want to bring a building, and the community that we’ve lived in for more than 60 years, back to life.

“We want to also use the life of the building to expand many of our current community initiatives and also partner initiatives with some of the groups doing many great things in Lewisham.”

He said the local community reaction had been largely positive.

Pastor White said: “The community has been phenomenal, we actually had four public open days because we wanted to be really transparent, and really open with the community.

“It was mind blowing, across those four days we had maybe as many as 1,000 tour through the building.”

But there have been some negative responses that he says have been “quite racially driven”.

He said: “I think we could count maybe four negative responses, which were quite racially driven because of the language used.

“To quote one phrase ‘why should these multiculturalists get our assets?’ – almost saying that the building’s a British asset so to speak, and we’re foreigners coming in to take it.”

The building was put up in 1909 as a billiard hall to give working men something to do other than drink alcohol, and work started three years ago.

The restoration is expected to cost £4million, which will be paid for with money borrowed and church funds. Pastor White said the building will be enlarged to 14,50sq ft – an increase from its initial 11,000sq ft.

Principal architect Paul Henry, of Paul Henry Architects, which specialises in auditory design, said the building consists of three parts, “the front building, the middle building, and the great hall to the rear.”

He said: “The rear, which is the large auditory space, will be the conference centre, also in the middle part of the building we’ve created some flexible spaces, as well.

“To the side of the building there’s a triangular wing, and we’ve now integrated the external land into the design of the building, so the ground floor footprint actually becomes quite a large space itself in terms of volume and also in terms of width.”

Mr Henry added: “Obviously we’ve got Covid-19 going on right now so we are all working in a restricted way but also trying to progress projects as well, under the construction regulations.”

It is hoped work will be finished by 2021.

The Tab Church gives away around 15 tonnes of food each year.

Pictured top: Building work has started on the site