Secular meets divine at new bar The Church
Wednesday, 21 June 2023
The stage is going up, the beer pumps and pizza oven are in, and the stained-glass windows and organ pipes are gleaming.
There’s no hiding the fact that this bar and entertainment venue is inside an old church.
It’s taken a couple of years, millions of dollars and much patience, but at last one of Christchurch’s oldest buildings is about to reopen as The Church – a new brew bar and music venue.
“It’s been really tough with all the red tape and the heritage issues, but it’s looking incredible,” said co-owner Nick Inkster of his new enterprise.
“We just need to get open and start trading,”
The bar will open inside the Trinity Church on the corner of Manchester and Worcester streets in mid-July. The exact date is still to be set.
Inkster is promising beer on tap from Emerson's Brewery in Dunedin, fare such as burgers, pizza and fried chicken, and live music seven days a week. Twice a month it will host ticketed concerts, with room for 500 punters inside.
“I’ve been excited since I signed the lease. Now that finally things are coming together, other people are getting excited too,” he said.
The Church’s journey began back in 2013 when the Christchurch Heritage Trust bought the severely quake-damaged stone building.
Built as the Trinity Congregational Church in Gothic revival style in the mid-1870s, it was later a Pacific Island church, then a wedding venue and then the Octagon restaurant.
An earlier church was built on the site in 1864/65.
When the 2010 and 2011 quakes wrecked the church and brought down its tower, the trust stepped in to buy and strengthen it. It is now the oldest stone building in Christchurch.
Inkster Company Ltd has a 10-year lease on the old church with a further 10-year right to renewal. It already runs Paddy McNaughton’s Irish bar in the old Shands building next door, which the trust shifted from Hereford St after buying it for $1. The two rescued buildings are now linked by a covered atrium.
Christchurch City Council has given a financial leg up to the restoration of both buildings, a project contingent on a long commercial lease. A $1 million heritage grant was followed by a $1.2m loan.
The company – owned by Inkster and Christchurch brothers Andrew and Richard Norton – has a growing hospitality empire. As well as Paddy McNaughton’s and The Church, the partners have the OGB bar in Cathedral Square, the Austin Club just off Cashel St, Civil and Naval in Lyttelton, and Fox & Ferret at The Palms.
Inkster says they have worked to create an inviting hospitality venue while honouring the heritage architecture.
The ornate double-vaulted timber ceiling has been retained, the altar rails will form part of the bar, and the old choir loft will be a mezzanine.
Windshields and heating will protect patrons sitting outside the building and on the front porch.
Recycled items have filled gaps. Rimu floorboards came from the old Linwood College hall, and a chandelier from the demolished Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is about to be installed.
The church’s original organ pipes were found in Timaru following the earthquakes. Inskster bought them and has installed them, but not the rest of the instrument, to form a backdrop to the bar.
To the side of the bar, the stage will have a lighting rig, stage door and green room.
Staff are being hired now, while people from other Inkster outlets will be part of the team.
Inkster says while the area has had few hospitality venues since the earthquakes, patronage is building with new central city housing going up nearby and the new stadium underway.
Because going out to eat and drink is expensive, venues need to offer something special, he said.
“We have to create theatre and an experience to get people to come out. I know this is going to go off. We know we can fill this place if we do it right.”
* CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly said the church was built in 1867. It actually dates from the mid-1870s. (Amended 6.20pm, June 21, 2023.)