Church prays for a saviour

THERE was no future for York Arts Centre. The doors were locked; the centre's Orwellian-sounding council of management issued a grim statement. "The centre has been beset by financial and other problems for some time. These have become insurmountable."

So the former St John's Church building at the Ouse Bridge end of Micklegate has been shut since August 10 1999. An occasional poster has been glued to the doors, one calling for a campaign for a new arts centre. Pigeons flutter around the porch.

All activity is concentrated on the former Victoria House department store next door, rapidly taking on its £6 million shape as the 104-bedroom Ramada Encore Hotel for opening in May or June. Where once the boarded-up store was the eyesore, now the old Arts Centre is in need of rejuvenation. Not a 21st century facelift, mind you, on account of its Grade 2 listed building status but a resurrection in the old church.

It has been dormant while York Civic Trust and the long-term repairing lease-holders, the University of York, discussed what to do next - and mulled over who should pay for the outstanding roof repairs at a cost of £250,000 and no doubt rising. Bear in mind that the university has spent almost an equivalent sum during 25 years on repairs and the magnitude of the outstanding roof work can be gauged

Now, however, there is a future for the empty Arts Centre building - hopefully. The For Sale sign has gone up, on the instructions of the new owners, the university, which finally has taken over the freehold from the Civic Trust. Howard Jenkins's estate agency is inviting offers for a "unique landmark opportunity" with planning consent for leisure purposes (Class D2) but with "potential for alternative uses, including retail, office and restaurant use".

The university had considered taking over the premises itself, premises that had been used by the Institute of Architecture of York Academic Trust - the predecessor of the university - after the property had been restored by the Civic Trust.

Latterly, York Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society has had informal talks with the university about the possibility of the university using the building by day, with theatre shows being staged in the evening. Nothing has come of the idea.

Costs, and in particular, potential repair bills have proved prohibitive to the university moving in. Sue Johnston, head of campus services at the university, says: "We looked at whether we could use it for our core business of teaching and research, we did a full evaluation and looked at the costs of repairing the building, and we couldn't find a use for it.

"We spoke to the Civic Trust and we both felt that so much needed to be spent on the building that we would put it on the market."

What might the old church become? Not yet another pub or club on the infamous Micklegate Run, as Jonathan Carr, development controller of City of York Council's planning department, explains: "Within the council's local plan, there's a policy to resist any increase in the number of hot food takeaways, pubs or nightclubs.

"That was the feeling when the policy was formulated in May 1998 and we feel it's been fairly successful in keeping the lid on the situation down there in Micklegate.

"The police say the situation has been improved and our policy has probably been a contributory factor."

How about office use, let's say for a trendy architect or design studio? "I've not heard that one being mooted before but there'd be no objection to that," says Mr Carr. "Any use that would respect the building would be welcome."

Significantly, the local plan would not preclude the conversion of the 3,250 square foot building into a restaurant or caf bar, and the existing alcohol licence has been extended to April 2004.

The use of the Methodist church building for the caf in Borders book store, in Davygate, shows the possibility of such a transformation. Then there is the Spurriergate Centre caf in the former St Michael's church, or ARC, the York Archaeological Trust resource centre in St Saviourgate.

Tony Dennis, the council's environment and conservation manager, says: "Ideally, we would have hoped that a use compatible with the building's past as an academic resource or theatre could be found, maybe for conferences or a small theatre."

Problem number one: "Already the Ramada Encore hotel next door has facilities planned for conferences otherwise it would have been ideal," says Mr Dennis.

Problem number two. Since the closure of the Arts Centre, other venues have taken up the shortfall in theatre, comedy and live music. City Screen, York, has comedy and music nights and Borders, acoustic music sessions; York Theatre Royal has opened The Studio for the kind of theatre show once the preserve of the Arts Centre; Riding Lights has established the Friargate Theatre; the National Centre for Early Music has opened. Victor J's has its artistic endeavours too. York Arts Arena and now York Arts Forum have played their part.

Peter Boardman, the council's commissioning manager for arts and culture, points to the leisure office encouraging the diversification of arts activity in the city since the demise of the Arts Centre, and he cannot foresee the centre rising once more in its former home, nor its conversion to other leisure pursuits. "At the moment the building isn't suitable for artistic or leisure use," he says. "It would need considerable work to be done on it, and leisure facilities are being provided elsewhere in the city, so it's not seen as a priority use for the building."

The key to future use may be the ability not only to meet the unspecified purchase and repair costs, but also to inflict minimum change, in the manner of the Borders and Spurriergate Centre cafs. Mr Dennis says: "The new use would have to be done in such a way that anything added could be taken out and wouldn't be seen as a permanent addition to the building. Council planners can find more sympathy for things that are removable.

"As conservation officers, we will be looking for a sympathetic use but it has to work, you can't treat it as a museum."

Darrell Buttery, chairman of York Civic Trust, says that in an ideal world "it would be nice to see it as a church again", but in a street with a handful of redundant churches already, that is surely wishful thinking. More realistically, he comments: "Among ourselves in the Civic Trust, we're saying that with it being near the hotel, and with the changes that were made to use the building as an arts centre, a tasteful transformation to a restaurant would be acceptable, as would an open-plan office."

Mr Carr, meanwhile, says there have not been many inquiries so far. Perish the thought but might no one buy it? "I certainly hope someone does. It's a prominent building and we'd like to see it in new use as soon as possible," he says.

Rest assured, the church will not be knocked down: Dr Evelyn saved it from demolition in the 1930s; it survived the threat of being knocked down for a road extension in the 1950s, but the 12th century St John's will live on in the 21st. As what, we must wait and see and maybe pray.

Updated: 10:36 Thursday, April 18, 2002