Kingsland Church says it has planning permission to turn the empty Aldi unit below its Lexden centre into a community cafe, a youth lounge and three studios.

The empty supermarket unit under Kingsland Church on London Road is to become a community cafe, a youth lounge and three studio spaces. The church, which runs the community centre above it, says it has consulted locally, designed the space and secured planning permission, and is now raising the money to fit it out.

The unit is the old Aldi at 86 London Road, Lexden. In its own words on its building project page, the church is “transforming the empty space (old Aldi) below us into a vibrant hub for everyone to enjoy”.

What is going in

The church lists five things for the ground floor:

  • a community cafe
  • a youth lounge
  • three studio spaces
  • meeting rooms
  • consulting rooms

It describes the intended use as everything “from art classes to Zumba”, and says the point of the expansion is to take on groups it cannot currently fit. The centre upstairs already handles bookings for groups of anywhere between 2 and 400 people, with parking, step-free access and free internet, and it runs a cafe serving coffee, cakes and light lunches.

There is no published opening date and no published fundraising target. The church says only that it has started fundraising and that “your support is essential to bring this vision to life”. We have not seen a cost figure for the work.

The scale of what is already there

The reason this is worth noting is the volume of use the building already takes. The church says 120 groups meet in the centre every week. Its community centre page puts the figure at more than 100.

Colchester City Council also lists Kingsland as one of its warm welcoming spaces, open 9am to 5.30pm, offering “someone to chat to each morning, a great place to meet up and opportunity for help and advice as needed”. That is a council record of the building doing a job that has nothing to do with Sunday services.

Can they pay for it

Kingsland Church Colchester is a registered charity, number 1127055, and a company limited by guarantee, number 06730025. Its accounts for the year ending 31 March 2025 are filed and up to date with the Charity Commission.

That year it reported:

  • total income of £1,279,496
  • total expenditure of £782,245
  • 14 employees, 6 trustees and 200 volunteers

The income split is the part that matters for a building project. Donations and legacies brought in £631,780 and charitable activities £201,310, but £446,400 came from investments, more than a third of the total. A church with an investment income of that size is in a different position from one relying on the collection plate, though none of that money is earmarked publicly for this scheme.

Where Kingsland Church's £1.28m came from Reported income, year ending 31 March 2025 Donations and legacies £631,780 Investments £446,400 Charitable activities £201,310 Source: Charity Commission register, charity 1127055. Total income £1,279,496. Graphic by The Colchester Post

The charity’s registered objects are “to advance the Christian faith, to alleviate poverty, to promote other purposes beneficial to the community”. No trustee takes any payment or benefit from the charity, and no employee is on total benefits above £60,000.

What it means for you

If you run a group that has been turned away from the centre for want of a room, this is the reason to ask again. The church’s stated aim is capacity, so the three studios and the extra meeting and consulting rooms are aimed squarely at bookings it cannot take now. Enquiries go through the centre on 01206 508948.

If you are just a passer-by, the practical change is on the London Road frontage. A large empty retail unit on a main route into the city is being brought back into use rather than left dark, which is a different outcome from most of the vacant shop stories we cover.

Two things are not yet public: what the fit-out will cost and when it will open. Neither appears on the church’s own pages, and we have not published a figure we cannot source. We will update this piece when either is announced.

For other schemes going through the system, see our Colchester planning news page. For what is already on in the city, see things to do in Colchester.

Sources