Press Release

A Statement in Response to Recent Social Media Posts Regarding the Snooker Club: 

St Matthias Church is deeply committed to using our resources to serve the needs of Fiveways and Hollingdean. We run many community groups and events which are open to everyone such as our Play Café, Kids Café and Youth Clubs which host hundreds of children and teenagers each week. We serve the wider community through Time Out Together, for our retired community; Dadventure, to support Dads and their children; as well as regular Livewell events which offer free mental health support from professionals in the area. Along with our sister Church, St Richards, we offer the Hollingdean and Fiveways Foodbank and Community Support Café and seek to fundraise for our local Primary Schools and other local charities through events including the School Disco and the annual Christmas Eve Nativity.  

The church building also plays host to Sunday Services, Weddings, Baptisms and Funerals through which we feel privileged to be able to share in so many aspects of our community life.  Additional spaces, including the Church Hall and Hut areas are rented throughout the week to other community groups including Pilates, Yoga groups, a Community Choir, Brownies, Toddler music groups, a Supper Club and - as many of you many know - private parties. 

Historical records indicate that nearly a century ago the Snooker Club was originally set up to be a Men's club for Church members, and for many decades the Vicar was the President. Now the club is entirely separate from the Church and yet continues to meet in two buildings on land purchased by the Church for Church use. One of the buildings is a large community space on the Ditchling Road, the other a smaller building that was built by the Men’s club through a loan agreement from the Church in the late 1920's. 

With rising costs, the donations provided by the church congregation and fundraising do not leave us sufficient funds to be in a position to continue to offer the building to the Club for the price agreed in 1931, 'one shilling a year'. The market rate rental value for this building is thirteen thousand pounds per year and the second room is rented by the Snooker Club for hundreds of pounds per month below both market rate and well below the rates that all the other community groups pay. 

We have a strong and pressing need for more multi-use space, both on Sundays and mid-week as the demand for our community activities has grown significantly over the past few years. In order to serve a wider range of community needs we wish to utilise all our Church spaces, including the land occupied by the Snooker Club, to maximise creating multi-use and accessible space for everyone. 

All of the Church’s community work is financed by the generous voluntary giving of our Church Community. Their giving keeps the church open for our community at a time when other churches in Brighton have closed. Whilst we have been forced to reduce staff as costs rise, we have so far ensured that all of our community support events have continued.   

We have a duty not only to our community, but also to our charitable objectives as a Church to operate a transparent, non-biased process in terms of our assets. Thus, any lease agreement must uphold our values on equality and transparency, whilst meeting our duties under charity law to obtain a reasonable return from our assets in order to invest in, amongst other priorities, critical roof repairs and building accessible toilets.  

We recognise the Snooker Club benefits its members, and we have been in conversation with them over a long period of time to try and find a resolution. Whilst it wouldn't be right to talk about specific proposals discussed with the Club, the Church leadership has proactively engaged its leadership offering constructive and legal solutions that we hope will provide a bridge to secure an alternative home for the Club, without risking its future.