A cherished community building in Hove is up for sale. We have a chance to buy it for the people of Brighton and Hove — and keep it that way, forever.
The former Methodist church at 36 Montefiore Road, Hove has been home to the Grace Eyre Foundation — a charity supporting people with learning disabilities — for half a century. It's been a place of genuine community life: meetings, support groups, friendships, care.
Now Grace Eyre is selling the building. It's on the market for £1.65 million. Without intervention, it could be converted into private flats or sold to developers — and another piece of Brighton and Hove's community fabric disappears.
We don't think that has to happen. We're Brighton and Hove Commons — a group of local people who believe this building can be owned by, and run for, the whole community. We need to move quickly, and we need you.
A former United Methodist Church at 36 Montefiore Road, Hove. Structurally sound with character to spare — arched windows, generous halls, space that feels like it was made to bring people together.
Asking price: £1.65 million. Total cost including essential works: around £2 million. A significant sum — but a fraction of what community space will cost in this city in ten years' time.
The building is on the market now. Community asset purchases take time to organise — which means the time to build momentum, raise funds and make our case is right now.
Brighton and Hove is losing affordable community space year by year. Once a building like this is in private hands, it's gone. Buying it for the community means it's protected — not just for us, but for the people who live here after us.
We don't have all the answers yet — and we think that's a strength, not a weakness. The exact shape of what Montefiore becomes should be decided with the whole community: the people who'll use it, run it, and call it theirs.
What we do know is the feeling we're after. A building that hums with life. Genuinely affordable space — not charity-affordable, actually affordable. Where a local theatre group, a repair café and a Tuesday lunch club sit side by side. Where kids grow up knowing there's somewhere that belongs to everyone.
We're building on the model pioneered by Hastings Commons — community ownership that puts control permanently in local hands, with surpluses reinvested into the building and the people who use it. Not a charity running services at you. A community owning something together.
We're at the very beginning. What we need most right now is people — people who care about this city, believe in community ownership, and are willing to say so.
Sign up to hear about events, meetings and ways to get hands-on as the campaign grows.
We'll be launching a community share offer and fundraising campaign. Be first to know.
Finance, law, architecture, comms, fundraising — we need people who know things. Tell us what you've got.
Share this page. Tell your neighbours. This only works if enough people know about it and care.
Register your interest and we'll keep you in the loop as the campaign develops. The more people who sign up now, the stronger our case that this community wants this building.
We'll be in touch as the campaign develops. In the meantime, the most helpful thing you can do is share this page with people who love Brighton and Hove.