Bitterne Park-based Vineyard Church will be opening its doors at the old chemist shop at the Triangle in the near future, using the upstairs as offices and the downstairs for a variety of purposes, including as a “community space”. Matt Hyam sent us this update.

The Old Chemist — What is going on?

It has been eight months since we approached Moss/Boots with a view to taking on the lease at the old chemist on the triangle.  It has not been a particularly enjoyable ride, it has to be said, but we are finally “in”.

You may have seen dodgy figures moving around or vans coming and going or people decorating or even a crazy man in a crash helmet with “crazy frog” goggles painting the sign at all hours and in all weather conditions.  Well.  That’s us.

Who are “we”?
We are “Southampton Vineyard Church” - a local church based in Bitterne Park. We have been meeting at Bitterne Park Junior School since January 2001 and many of us live in Bitterne Park or close by.  We are in partnership with other churches in Bitterne Park , working together for activities, meetings and projects to do the best we can to serve the area and Southampton.

Why are we here in the triangle?
Because we believe that we have an opportunity to serve this area, we wanted to have a base in the heart — which we see as the triangle — from which to do this.   We want to support the local people and local traders.  We want to do all that we can to have a positive impact here.

What is “the old chemist” for?
In three words — it’s for you!

We will be using the upstairs for offices for ourselves and some partner charities, and some evenings we will be using the downstairs for our own activities.  We will also have regularly booked times.  Every Wednesday, the building will be used by The Basics Bank, which is part of Southampton City Mission, and provides emergency food to those in need.  We will also, from time to time, run some of our own events from here.

However, we want this space to be a community space, and, for the vast majority of time, the downstairs area to be available to hire for local people or groups.  People have asked if we are willing for people to display their art work or whether they can sell arts and crafts from there, or to run a knitting club or a drop-in for youth or for use for children’s parties or for a space to just hang out.  The answer is yes!  This is a space for you to use, so please just ask.  It will be left as an open space with sofas, chairs and tables available for use.  We also have kitchen facilities.  We will charge a nominal fee for the use of the facilities, just to cover our costs.

We will have a rolling noticeboard in the window which will give details of what is happening in the venue.  Please be patient with us as we get set up and running,

Hopefully, at some stage in the next month or so, we will do a “Launch” event one Saturday, to enable you to come and look round and see what it is all for but, in the meantime, if you would like to pop in and see what we are doing then please do so.  We’ll put a bell in as soon as we can.

We look forward to meeting you.

Contact us
If you would like to find out more or your want to use the space, then please contact us on 02380 556955 or via our website www.southamptonvineyard.org.uk.

As I said, we have got this space to make it available to you, so please use it!


Matt Hyam