Restoring St John's Church in Chatham

St johns church

Millions of pounds are being invested in Chatham to regenerate the town centre through a number of projects. One of these projects is St John's Church on Railway Street.

Thanks to funding secured through the Future High Streets Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we’re working in partnership with the Church of England Diocese of Rochester to refurbish the church.

The grade II listed church will be restored as a place of worship but will also include facilities for the community including:

  • spaces for events and classes
  • flexible meeting spaces for businesses
  • a cafe.

Latest news

We recently had a tour of the refurbishment and restoration work that’s been taking place at St John’s Church. The church has been closed since 2021.

The church has undergone a major transformation to provide the local community with a multi-use space that can be used for years to come.

The changes include:

  • being restored as a place of worship
  • providing a new social space for classes and events
  • a new cafe
  • new meeting rooms 
  • facilities to host local music.

The church is due to reopen in Autumn 2025.

This project has been funded by:

  • Future High Streets Fund
  • UK Shared Prosperity Fund
  • The National Lottery Heritage Fund
  • Church Commissioners
  • Diocese of Rochester
  • Rochester Bridge Trust
  • Friends of Kent Churches
  • Benefact Trust
  • Burrswood Dorothy Kerin Trust
  • The National Churches Trust.

Watch our update video from the Leader of Medway Council, Councillor Vince Maple.

collage of 3 images showing St Johns church after restoration. Bottom image shows Medway council councillors

 

Open day

An open day was held on Saturday 1 April 2023 to provide comments on the initial ideas for the activity plan and programme schedule.

The 3 hour event was attended by around 100 residents.

St johns church open day

As part of the event, visitors were told about the details of the planned regeneration works and given an overview of the activities that could be included once the building work has been completed.

They were then asked to put stickers on the activities that they particularly liked.

St johns church open day 2

Results from the open day

The proposals in the activity plan were well received.

There was pride and delight in the building being used again and becoming a centre of the community for the future.

The areas that people were really interested in were:

  • the church being used as a community hub
  • the heritage: ensuring we recognise the untold stories, such as Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s connection with Chatham. We'll work with Medway Archives to reveal the stories in the church
  • café proposal: several people spoken to were interested in working for the church either in the café or as a Community Partnership Officer.