36 Montefiore Road, Seven Dials. Flint, brick and stone. · See more photos on Rightmove
A 13,500 sq ft former church with a theatre, cafe, and around fifty rooms. On the open market now. We want to buy it together before a developer does.
What if the community had a common space we could not only access and benefit from but actually owned?
What if this is an opportunity to come together and design a space fit for the future and the kind of community resilience we will all need over the coming decades?
Things feel a bit… terrible? We're all feeling it. We're all wondering if there's anything we can do. A lot of the time the things we're told to do focus on consumption: buying differently, buying less or watching and sharing different content on our screens. What if the best thing we could do is act locally and actually create something together? What if it could be fun and joyful?
We believe collective action is the way to collective care and that this is the way forward.
We want to use the community shares model to buy this space and keep it in community hands forever.
Community ownership is a real, proven alternative. We've been inspired by the folks at Hastings Commons who have successfully brought 10 buildings into community hands over the last few years. Or Fordhall Farm in Shropshire: 1 farmer, 8,000 landlords. It's not only possible, it's happening all over the UK.
36 Montefiore Road, Seven Dials. Flint, brick and stone. · See more photos on Rightmove
A former Methodist church at 36 Montefiore Road, Seven Dials. Flint and brick, arched windows, generous halls. Theatre with stage, big kitchen, dining space. 13,500 sq ft. Planning permission for a multi-use space, cafe, theatre and offices already exists.
Asking price: £1.65 million. Total cost including works: around £2 million. Community shares spread that cost across hundreds of people, meaning a real stake in something real, for a fraction of what any of us could do alone.
It's on the market right now. We need to move fast, which means the people who get involved now are the ones who shape what this becomes. Early movers matter.
Brighton and Hove is losing community space year by year. Once a building like this goes to a developer, it's gone. Buying it together means it stays in community hands: not just for us, but for everyone who lives here after us.
Register your interest and we'll keep you in the loop as this develops.
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