New role for old church

Press, 16 December 1988, Page 33

New role for old church

Christianity has become a lot ntore outgoing in recent years than it used to be, but it has not yet reached the point of painting churches a shocking pink to attract people. Yet in Motueka there is just such a church building. Closer inspection reveals that the building which dates from 1920 is no longer the Methodist Church it once was but Motueka’s Gothic Restaurant, one of the borough’s newer licensed eating places which opened for business six months ago. The church became surplus to religious requirements after the Methodist and Presbyterian communities in Motueka combined their forces.

After being leased out for a while to another religious sect it was put on the market and bought by Richard and Mary Shee, plus a couple of sleeping partners, for conversion into a restaurant.

The traditional gothic shape of the main church building provided both a name for the restaurant and the theme for its style of decoration. The pink exterior, while not really in keeping with the gothic theme, was chosen to emphasise the change in use of the building from religious to commercial, and to make it stand out in the town.

The property bought by the restaurant partnership included a church hall and a school room as well as the church building itself, and between them they have been converted into a complex which can cater for weddings, receptions and other special groups as well as restaurant patrons. The old school room between the church and the hall was converted into a kitchen and additional building created a lounge and bar for restaurant customers. There is also a new courtyard to provide an outdoor dining area.

Richard Shee says one advantage of the separate church and hall buildings is that the hall can be used for private functions without interfering with the operations of the restaurant, and both can be serviced equally well from the kitchen between them.

After six months he says he can find no real drawbacks in operating a restaurant in the church, though he admits it took a lot of renovation and toil to turn the old building into a marketable product.