Plans to turn disused Ipswich church into live music venue set for final approval
The former St Stephen’s Church would become a 220 capacity live music venue under new plans
Last updated 21st Sep 2022
A former Ipswich church may be changed from a tourist information centre into a live music venue, after an application by Ipswich Borough Council.
A decision on turning St Stephen’s Church, a grade two-listed building on St Stephen’s Lane, into a café with live music performances will be made by the council’s planning and development control committee tomorrow. The officer’s recommendation is for approval.
If both planning permission for alterations and listed building consent covering the changed use are granted, the site will be set to become, in the report’s words, a ‘culture-led café and co-working space to support creators and artists’.
The fifteenth-century church building was used as a tourist information centre after 1993, and was a site for performances, exhibitions and fairs before that.
The planned venue is expected to open between 10am and 10.30pm on Saturdays, with capacity for 220 people. Two full-time and ten part-time staff members would be employed.
Alterations to the building would include the installation of a bar, toilets, CCTV, entrance lobby and a new doorway.
The prospective tenant is a local organisation that provides creative opportunities for young people. The organisation also owns a small studio west of the town centre, called The Smokehouse. The applicant is Ipswich Borough Council.
Consultations with Ipswich Borough Council’s conservation officer and Environmental Protection team returned no objections – as did those with Suffolk County Council’s Archaeology team, Suffolk Fire and Rescue, Suffolk Constabulary and Historic England.
Worries about potential noise problems were expressed by the Conservative Club next door to the building, and those living in the flats above the club.