A derelict church deemed ‘not fit for purpose’ is set to be turned into a state-of-the-art mosque after being bought by a Muslim organisation for £3.5million.
St Thomas’ United Reformed Church in Watford, Hertfordshire, closed in 2015 with the initial plan to demolish and rebuild it because of serious structural issues.
Planning permission was granted twice but the scheme was never taken forward and it was put up for sale then purchased by the local Ar-Rahmah Trust last December.
Now, the charity is trying to raise a further £1.5million to renovate the 20,000 sq ft building to reopen it as Masjid Al-Ummah next year ‘with facilities like never before’.
The sale was completed in January after Ar-Rahmah raised the money in ‘Qardh Hasanah’, an Islamic finance term relating to interest-free charitable loans.
Now, the trust has launched a crowdfunder project to raise £500,000 to repay the short-term financing this month – with 477 people having already given £452,555.
Ar-Rahmah aims to raise the £1.5million for renovation by this December, and then open the mosque next year before repaying the rest of the loan by January 2027.
St Thomas’ United Reformed Church in Watford, Hertfordshire, closed its doors in 2015
A view inside St Thomas’ Church released in a promotional video from Ar-Rahmah Trust
A Launchgood page for the project states the mosque will be a ‘welcoming, non-sectarian, and non-partisan environment that provides accessible spaces for worship, learning, and community engagement’, reported the Watford Observer.
Masjid Al-Ummah will also have a dedicated women’s gym, nursery, food bank, Koran classes and Islamic education, social spaces for older people, youth spaces, a sports hall, a digital library, study hubs and mortuary services.
The project’s website states that the Muslim community in Watford has ‘grown from a small group to a vibrant and diverse population of 15,000’.
It adds: ‘While existing masjids and musallahs have served us well, the demand for space, especially during Jummah and Ramadan, has outgrown current facilities.’
The website also says: ‘Masijd Al Ummah will address the community’s spiritual, educational, social, and well-being needs, inspired by the traditional role of a masjid as hub for prayer, learning, and community cohesion.’
The site layout for the planned Masjid Al-Ummah which is set to open at some point in 2026
A hall inside the church in Watford which was purchased by Ar-Rahmah Trust last December
The trustees behind the scheme are said to have met with the local residents’ association in the Nascot area of the town to discuss how to keep the community updated and involved in the project.
A spokeswoman for the project told MailOnline: ‘Our mission is to create an inclusive space for worship, education, and community engagement. Masjid Al Ummah is an initiative dedicated to serving the needs of the entire community.’
‘The site has been vacant and in a state of disrepair since 2015. This project will bring much needed regeneration, transforming it into a vibrant hub that benefits both Muslims and the wider Watford community.
‘Beyond being a place of worship, Masjid Al Ummah will offer essential community services, including a sports hall, gym, cafeteria, food bank, nursery, and event spaces, available for the public to book.
‘The project is being led by a team of local professionals including doctors, lawyers, and chartered accountants who live and work in the area. It has strong support from the wider community and aims to be a welcoming accessible space.
‘Masjid Al Ummah will stand as a beacon of how diverse communities can foster dialogue, understanding, and unity, building bridges between people of all faiths and backgrounds. We look forward to welcoming you to it.’
The initial plan was to demolish the church and rebuild it because of serious structural issues
It comes after the Church of England intervened to block a disused Grade II-listed church in Staffordshire from being transformed into a mosque in August last year.
The St John the Evangelist church in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, had not been used as a place of worship since the tower was declared unsafe in the 1980s.
The building, which dates back to 1788, was being last used as an antiques centre and café before being sold onto the Zamir Foundation which won permission from Stoke-on-Trent City Council to turn it into a mosque.
But the Church of England blocked the plan using a legal clause under a covenant that prohibits it becoming a place of worship for another religion.
Other transformations have however been passed, such as a disused Victorian Methodist church in Bradford which is set to be converted into a mosque.
Clayton Heights Methodist Church dates back to 1870 but has been vacant since 2020 – with plans to turn it into homes never carried out, and the church instead bought by the local Muslim community.
A view of St Thomas’ United Reformed Church which is set to become Masjid Al-Ummah
Elsewhere, the dilapidated former St Chad’s Church in Blackburn, Lancashire, was transformed into the new Masjid-e-Taqwa mosque following a major renovation in 2023.
Over 3,500 churches have closed in the UK in the last decade, according to the National Churches Trust – with many going on to become houses or community centres.
Some 46 per cent of people England and Wales or 27.5million claimed to be Christian in the 2021 census, which was a decline of 13 percentage points since the last census in 2011.
However the number of people describing themselves as Muslim in the 2021 increased to 6.5 per cent or 3.9million, up from 4.9 per cent or 2.7million in 2011.
