Church hall transformed into 'shabby-chic' pop-up pub

Volunteers at St Barnabas Church are converting its under-used Stafford Hall into The St Barnabas Arms, with beer supplied from Wild Card Brewery.

The iron hut has served as the church hall since 1901, before being turned into a special school.

For the last 45 years it has been the weekly meeting place of a cinema club.

Now the church is seeking to make more use of the building for its increased church and community activities.

All week church-goers have been busy installing a bar, equipment and chairs at the hall.

Canon Steven Saxby came up with the idea after discovering community space was in high demand in the area.

He said: “It's more shabby than shabby-chic at present.

"A couple of years ago we would never have thought of opening it without a massive refurbishment.

"But the rise of shabby-chic culture and the result of a decrease in standards meant it has not only made opening it possible but pretty cool as well.

"People are constantly asking for rehearsal space or artists needing somewhere to exhibit so with a bit of TLC we can hopefully bring it into more use- because it is very much in demand in the community.

"We don’t want to condone drinking to excess. I think all good things in moderation is the theological argument on that one."

"We might do it again if it is popular and have been looking into other pop-up ideas, like patisseries."

Along with beer there will be Greek street-food and live-music as the St Barnabas Arms opens on the weekend of July 3 from 5.30pm to 10.30 pm.

Canon Steven Saxby of St Barnabas Church.