Host Café opens at St Luke’s, Portsmouth

We were delighted to see the first phase of our St Luke’s Church redevelopment completed, with the opening of the new Host Café last week. The redevelopment is inline with the Church’s vision ‘To become a church with visible connection and meaning to those who live, work, or study, in this community: one that is open throughout the week for everyone, whether you express a faith or not.’

The church had approached Studio BAD following the success of our St Margaret’s Church redevelopment, to help enhance the church building with the aim of transforming it into a vibrant hub for the community. As part of the wider project, we looked at major repair work to the church roof, gutters and windows and also looked at improving the engagement between the church and the community at all levels, make the physical space more welcoming and restful.

In this first phase the courtyard space, between the street and the front entrance, has been upgraded with a cost effective overhaul to deliver a vibrant and inviting space to encourage the community into, during the warmer months this space will also be used for alfresco dining for the café.

The new café is located in the church hall, offering great coffee, comfortable chairs and a warm welcome to all. The vicar, the Rev Annie McCabe, said: “Our customers include those who work in the church, students living in the blocks of flats around us, congregation members, and people from the local community. Various groups, such as the police and city council want to use the café as a base to discuss issues with local residents.” All profits raised from the café will be re-invested into the local community.

We are delighted to have helped breath new life into the building, creating a space for the whole community to enjoy and engage with. You can find out more details about Host Cafe here. 

St Luke’s submitted for planning

We have recently submitted our plans for St Luke’s Church in for planning. The reimagination plans of the church, is designed to help continue the community support work that the church already undertakes, will add a café and garden.

The Reverend Annie McCabe commented that they plans will ‘improve the visual appeal of the building to be inviting and accessible’. The plans will convert the existing church hall into a café, with a new porch structure added. The existing car park will be redeveloped as a flexible, community garden space.

The designs for the church will help to expand the community outreach projects the church is already involved in. Three years ago, the church launched a shared working space, coffee bar, meeting space with high-speed wifi, this redevelopment scheme looks to continue the positive progression of the work already started.

It was fabulous to see these redevelopment plans featuring in The News, the local newspaper for Portsmouth, with such positive community comments about the scheme. We hope to have a positive response from the council by the end of February 2023.