Simon Jenkins has come up with more suggestions about uses for under-used churches. I'd warn you that it's behind a paywall. But to be honest it's probably better that way. Oddly he's in the Times this time. Who probably aren't aware he's written the same story, with minor tweaks, repeatedly in the past for the Guardian. This, for instance, from 2021.
Or the article that caused me to write this, in 2018.
I worry that, like an elderly relative who's telling you the same funny story about their youth for the 90th time, he just forgets he's told us his theories before.
Still. To save you the trouble of searching old Guardian columns finding all the new uses Simon Jenkins has suggested for the small village pub - here they are.
- Pub (despite all the pubs closing)
- Library (despite all the libraries closing)
- Post Office (you guessed it)
- Bank (yeah, yeah)
- Sauna
- Squash court
- Aquarium
- Crazy Golf
- Discorama
- Vape shop
- American candy store
- Harry Potter supplies
- Yoga centre
- Arts centre
- Baseball ground
- Airport
- Heliport
- Spaceport
- World War II pill box
- Castle
- Ghost Train ride
- Penny arcade
- Chip shop
- Garden Centre
- Laundromat
- Ice Rink
- Laser Smurf-hunt
- Nudist colony
- Gerbil breeding centre
- Space observatory
- Solar Farm
All it requires is a wilful ignorance of English and canon law, a Public Sector prepared to invest billions in buildings with immense costs, and a bit of imagination.
Come on, England! Save those church buildings!
Thank you for properly researching this. I thought I was re-reading old newspaper articles.
ReplyDeleteSimon Jenkins regularly writes about Church of England issues, but apparently has absolutely not a tiny clue about how the Church of England works. Kinda dispiriting that a supposed writer on Church affairs repeatedly displays such utter ignorance.
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