Eleven Years, Repeated Refusals: A Church Sells the Walthamstow Cinema It Was Never Allowed to Turn Into a Place of Worship

• The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God had owned the former EMD/Granada cinema since 2003
• Its repeated bids to convert the building into a church were refused by the council and planning inspectors
• In November 2014 it emerged the church was selling to pub company Antic London
• Local campaigners had fought to keep the building for entertainment

A long stand-off over one of Walthamstow’s best-known buildings came to an end in November 2014, when it emerged that the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) was selling the former EMD/Granada cinema on Hoe Street to the pub company Antic London, the Waltham Forest Echo reported. The price was not disclosed.

The UCKG had owned the closed cinema since 2003. Over the following years it repeatedly sought permission to convert the building into a place of worship, and each time it was turned down by the council and by planning inspectors. Meanwhile, a local campaign pressed for the building to be kept for entertainment, leaving the church holding a large property it could not use for the purpose it had bought it for.

Antic, which ran pubs in nearby Leytonstone and Leyton, said: “Plans are currently being pulled together to facilitate the required investment and we look forward to working with our partners, both old and new, to ensure a bright future for the EMD.” Soho Theatre described early talks as “positive and productive”.

Local MP Stella Creasy welcomed the prospect, saying: “I believe the residents of Walthamstow would love to see Antic working with the Waltham Forest Cinema Trust and Soho Theatre.”

The episode is a lesson in the risk of buying a building before securing the planning permission needed to use it. A church can own a property outright and still be unable to worship in it if the planning system and local community decide the building should serve another purpose.

For congregations in Jamaica and in the diaspora looking at old cinemas, halls or commercial buildings as future churches, Walthamstow makes the point bluntly: check with the planning authority first. In Jamaica, as in Britain, change of use and building approvals matter, and a purchase made in hope rather than with permission can tie up church money for years.

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