- Duffield Parish Council bought the former Methodist Church on King Street in December 2025
- The church closed in late 2024
- An anonymous local donor funded the purchase
- The council plans a village hall and community facility, with a strategy to be developed in 2026
A village council in Derbyshire has bought its former Methodist church to turn it into a community hall, Duffield Parish Council announced in December 2025.
The former Methodist Church on King Street closed in late 2024. The parish council completed the purchase in mid-December 2025, made possible by an anonymous local donor.
The council plans to turn the building into a village hall and community facility, and will develop a formal strategy during 2026 with input from residents. Councillors Roger Harrison, Steve Knee, John Shoesmith and Greg Broadbent, together with chairman Mark Spilsbury, led the negotiations, supported by parish clerk Fay Craig.
“The purchase of the Methodist Church is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to realise a long-held ambition to develop a community resource that enhances village life,” said Mark Spilsbury.
Duffield’s approach, with a local council buying a closed church and a generous donor paying for it, keeps a landmark in community use rather than letting it become private flats. In Jamaica, where churches often double as community centres, shelters and meeting places, the same idea could apply when a congregation closes: parish councils, community groups or diaspora associations could step in to buy and keep the building for public use. For selling churches, a community buyer can offer a good outcome even if the price is not the highest.
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