View From Blackpool

Chapel Street Methodist Church - Key Dates

1825. Rev. D. T. Carnson laid the first stone of a small Independent chapel at the lower end of Chapel Street.
1826. An Independent Methodist (later Primitive Methodist) Church was opened in Chapel Street by Rev. Dr. Raffles. This is recorded as having closed in 1849.
1830. James Roskell, a Methodist Preacher from Little Carleton, started moves towards founding a permanent church in Blackpool. He was helped by a Preston Methodist, named Robert Baird, who had a drapery business next to the Aquarium, in a terrace known as Baird’s Cottages.
1832. James Roskell and Robert Baird established a Methodist Class Meeting in a room at Bonny’s Bathing House on the South Beach. When the community outgrew those premises, they moved to Robert Baird’s Bazaar, where the Tower now stands.
1862. Chapel Street Primitive Methodist chapel was built at Revoe. John Braithwaite built Greenfield Cottage nearby, and this was used as the caretaker’s home until it was absorbed into the extended chapel in later years. Chapel Lane was built alongside and later widened out to make Upper Adelaide Street.
1875. Chapel Street Primitive Methodist Church was opened on Chapel Street (recently renamed from Bonny’s Lane) on 29 August 1875, with worshippers moving from their temporary home in the Temperance Hall on Coronation Street. That church was built in red brick and could seat 300 people.
1877. The Methodists opened a Day School next to the Chapel. In 1923, the Corporation took it over as a temporary Elementary Council School.
1924. Kelly’s Directory (Lancashire), page 194, details 'The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Chapel Street, erected in 1883, will seat 300 persons.'
1937. The Methodist Sunday school building opened in Chapel Street.
1938. The church was rebuilt.
1984. The chapel was refurbished in 1984. A new church was built in one of the halls, with old church building being repurposed as a Christian Centre. These opened on 31 March 1984.
1997. The congregation moved on closure in July 1997 to join the congregation at Central Methodist Church, Adelaide Street, Blackpool, at which time the joint Church was renamed 'New Central Methodist Church'.
1997. The church building was leased to Manchester Methodist Housing Association (later Great Places Housing) and modified to become the Blackpool 'Foyer' residential training centre for young people in need of accommodation, frequently when coming out of Care. They converted the church into 38 self-contained flatlets and offices, which opened on 10 March 1999. The Foyer closed in 2015 and the lease was bought by Blackpool Housing Association in March 2016.