Acocks Green Methodist Church in S.E. Birmingham, has a building next door to the church of about 9,000 square feet over 3 floors which has become vacant through Council cut backs. They are looking for new tenants for this newly redecorated spacious building which has on site car parking and good bus and train connections. The building can be let as a whole, or sub divided in a number of ways. They will consider community, charitable, educational or commercial uses. Contact details at the end of this article.
Kate Harding tells the Methodist story in Acocks Green
The Wesleyan Methodist Society at Acocks Green, began around 1856 when 2 outdoor preaching appointments were agreed by the Local Preachers Meeting of the Birmingham East Circuit, and by the end of that decade the Society was meeting in a house that still stands near the church. Acocks Green was then expanding rapidly as the coming of the railway to Acocks Green, enabled people to move away from the smoky centre of Birmingham. By 1862 discussions were underway to build a chapel and the foundation stone was laid in May 1863 and the chapel opened in October 1863 able to seat about 144 people. In 1872 a school room was added.
By 1882 Acocks Green Methodists were spending £1,458 to build a new chapel to seat 425, alongside the previous one as the local population had doubled in the previous 10 years as Acocks Green was a very desirable place to live. Work began in May 1882 on the red brick Continental Gothic chapel, which is still in use, and the chapel opened in October of the same year. In January 1893 fire broke out in the old school room, and although the local police station had to send a telegram to the Birmingham Fire Station for help, a steam engine and tender arrived in a little over 1/2 an hour and the church was saved though there was significant damage to the older buildings.
In 1911, Acocks Green moved from being part of the Yardley Rural District Council which could not cope with the rapidly expanding population, to be part of the City of Birmingham. In the same year the Superintendent minister of the Circuit was moved to Acocks Green. Between 1920 and 1939 over 17,000 council houses were built in Acocks Green which radically altered the area. The Methodist Church met the challenge by extending the chapel in 1927, and during 1933 another rapid building project created the School and Institute to be used for church gatherings and group meetings and the large Sunday School of over 650 children. A sizeable well lit basement was used by the Boys Brigade. Three large classrooms on the ground floor were used for all sorts of meetings of societies, church groups and childrens uniformed organisations. The first floor was a very large hall with a well appointed stage in regular use for plays and concerts and church parties served by a big kitchen on the ground floor that sent food and drink up and down by a dumb waiter, as well as large Circuit and other meetings. The church only had exclusive use of this new building until 1939. During World War II it was used by the Ministry of Labour and later for local primary school education. Ever since then the Local Authority has used part of the building. At first it was partial use and the church could use it at weekends and in the evening. Later the Council took exclusive possession of the building. The Institute has been used by Social Services and Housing and latterly as the local Neighbourhood office and Surveyors department until March 2011. At that point the Council withdrew because of the financial cut backs. The rent for the building contributed to Acocks Green’s funds but even more to the wider Circuit of Methodist churches.
The local congregation is anxious to try to retain the building for local use as there is a lack of community amenitites in the area. Initially we hoped to set up a community hub in the building but a detailed community survey revealed that there was only one community organisation in Acocks Green with any external funding, so that idea wasn’t financially viable. Our focus then moved to finding a way of using the building for the good of the community on a more commercial basis. A number of excellent possibilities, including use as a 6th form centre, could not go ahead for lack of funds. We currently have a couple of potential tenants but we are looking for more to use the building fully. We hope to work with the local community to support groups to grow so that a community hub may become possible in the future either in the Institute or in the church building.
The building is spacious, almost 9,000 square feet over 2 floors plus a basement. Over the years the spaces have been subdivided in a variety of different ways and this works well because the building is well lit on all sides. There is some on site parking and the centre of Acocks Green with its good shopping, bus and rail links is very close by.
For more information please contact
Chris Peutherer of Shepherd Commercial on 01564 778890 email chris@shepcom.com www.shepcom.com or Kate Harding of Acocks Green Methodist Church on 0121 711 2362 or email hardinghorde@btinternet.com
