'Big dreams' for new Fountains Church in Bradford city centre

Fountains Church, next to the Alhambra theatre, was once home to clubs including Walkabout, Revolution and Tequila, but had stood empty and a shadow of its former self for some time, becoming a haven for anti-social behaviour, drug taking and vandalism.

In 2019, plans were revealed by the Anglican Diocese of Leeds to transform the building into a new £4.6 million city centre place of worship - its name inspired by the iconic City Park fountains. 

The building’s transformation is going from strength to strength, with phase one completed and the team firmly setting their sights on phase 2. 

The new auditorium space

Reverend Linda Maslen, Minister at Fountains Church, said: “I think we’ve really changed the front of the building, it looks amazing.When you look from Centenary Square, you can just see us as part of the landscape. Phase two means it will look really good from Chester Street, from the other side. The whole building will look so much better.”

The transformed exterior

Rev Maslen reflected on how there is light coming into the building, a far cry from the dark space they took on. Phase one gives a taste of what is to come and has progressed even more since the Telegraph & Argus visited back in November. 

Rev Maslen added: “The auditorium is now completed, it’s a great, open space that can be used really flexibly, holds up to about 180 people, amazing AV equipment and we are now starting to look to see whether anybody would like to book it, to use it at times when we’re not using it for worship.”

Rev Maslen pictured in the auditorium space back in November 2020

Grace Kitchen, a pay as you feel cafe, uses produce which would have otherwise have gone to waste to create meals. They are available outside the church:

Tuesday: 12.30 - 1.30pm

Thursday: 12.30 - 1.30pm

Saturday: 6-7pm

Sunday: 5.30-6.30pm

Phase 2, which used to be Revolution nightclub, will see the creation of a flexible space, plus a co-working and creative space. The church also hopes it will be able to run cooking lessons.

How the building looked in November 2019

Phase 3 will eventually become the main auditorium and will be able to accommodate around 800 to 1,000 people. Nathanael Poole, assistant church leader, said the team are dreaming “big dreams”.

He said: “When we initially looked at purchasing this building, we only looked at buying a small part of it, one unit, and yet we find ourselves with with five units, five nightclubs. This has caused us to think that God has big dreams for Bradford and big dreams for this church and so just being in here, makes us dream big dreams too.”