A PICTURESQUE former church is to be sold to a school of dance following its listing with agents John Truslove.
St George The Martyr, which has served the Redditch community for 140 years, came up for sale last year due to a dwindling congregation and rising maintenance costs.
It was put on the market for offers in the region of £200,000.
The sale will ensure the Grade II listed building will continue to be used by the public and that visitors can still enjoy its Garden of Remembrance and memorials.
“We’re delighted,” said The Rev Paul Lawlor, vicar of St Stephen’s Church and town centre chaplain. “It marks the end of a long period of uncertainty over St George’s.”
The church, which was consecrated in 1876 as a chapel of ease, is the daughter church of St Stephen’s and was built, it is said, after the main employers of the town, the needlemakers, did not want their factory workers going to the same church as them.
“There’s always a sense of bereavement when things change,” Rev Paul added. “But it’s important that the wider Church and the community of Redditch look to the future.”
