Brighton campaigners raise £150k to buy church hall

Brighton community campaigners have raised the £150,000 that they need to buy a church hall.

Paul Winter, the photographer who has been running the campaign to save Exeter Street Hall, said: “We’ve done it! We have raised over the asking price of £150,000 to purchase Exeter Street Hall.”

The campaign group will now be able to buy the hall from St Luke’s Prestonville Church in nearby Old Shoreham Road, Brighton.

The roof needs repairing and the church is unable to afford to do the work or keep the hall.

The campaigners raised the money by selling shares in TheHallGetInvolved, the limited company behind the fundraising share offer.

Each share costs £1 and they come in batches of 50. The minimum investment is £50 and the maximum is £20,000.

The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas bought the first share. Crime writer Peter James, property developer Mike Holland and even the vicar of St Luke’s Martin Poole have bought shares.

The campaigners were also given a big boost when the church dropped the asking price by £50,000.

Mr Winter said: “We estimate that we now have over 800 shareholders, which is both exciting and humbling.

“So many people bought in the last few days and so we hope to broadcast the final figure raised within the week.

“Thank you to everyone who has made this possible and believed in this campaign.”