Former bowling alley sees its lanes turn into church aisles

A former Hollywood Bowl bowling alley has seen its well-used lanes become the aisles of a new black-led church in east London.

The venue, next to a Showcase Cinema, boasts a massive 29,800 sq ft ground floor which has become the new home for worshippers of Trinity Chapel, part of the fastest-growing church in London and Europe, the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Negotiations on behalf of the church for a 15-year lease of the premises were handled by Olatunji Adebayo, managing director of TA Property Consultants Ltd, a London-based company specialising in purchasing and leasing property in the south east for Christian churches. TA currently has 350 churches on its books looking for larger premises.

Mr Adebayo said: "Trinity Chapel is one of very many black-led churches in London which is rapidly growing and looking to expand into new premises for worship and to house resources to help local communities. The former Hollywood Bowl was ideal for their needs."

He said the number of churches turning to him for help in finding new larger premises was evidence of church growth.

"Whilst the public perception is that church attendance is declining, in our experience, the black-led churches and many independent evangelical churches are rapidly rising in membership, hence the need for larger premises," he said.

Mr Adebayo is currently holding talks with Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in a bid to have London's Planning Laws changed to enable more churches to take over premises formerly designated strictly for employment or commercial use.