Look inside the cafe that's breathing new life into an old chapel

The café on Lancots Lane is set to open on Thursday, February 15 as ‘The Old Chapel’, breathing new life into the church which is believed to be the third oldest listed building in St Helens.

The chapel was funded by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1845 and was partly constructed using cobbles made out of copper slag that were donated by local firm Newton Keates & Co.

In 1893 the Wesleyans moved to new premises and the chapel was handed over to the Welsh community who used it as an undenominational, nonconformist place of worship.

After many years of closure, the Sutton Oak Welsh Chapel Preservation Society revived the building and used it for choir practice but ultimately the trustees decided in September 2021, to the put the building up for auction when it was purchased by Heather.

Heather Sheikhlou – who formerly owned a café in Orrell – decided to come back to her St Helens roots and bought the disused site at auction, with the aim of bringing what she did in Wigan to Sutton instead.

The mum-of-one, who currently has a 16-month-old little boy at home, has had a lot of work to do and says she’s excited to finally be ready to open the doors.

Heather, who is originally from Parr and now lives in Ormskirk, said: “I always knew I wanted my own café, I worked in a travel agency before and opened up another café in Orrell and ran it for five years.

Heather (Image: Heather)

“I rented the space there and it was really successful but when a chance came up for me to own my own building and run a café in St Helens it was too good of an opportunity to pass it up so I shut the old one and it’s been hard work but we’ve finally done it.

“We had to put new everything in, there was damp, no floors in places and it needed a full rewire and everything but I’m so proud of what we’ve managed to do and I can’t wait to open up on Thursday.

“To have a building with so much history is lovely, so many people are interested in what we are doing here and I hope people will like what we’ve managed to do, especially those who used to perform as a choir here.

“I’m hoping the community will enjoy this place as I’m more than open to having groups use the space here eventually too.”

Inside the cafe (Image: Inside the cafe)

The café is housed in the main hall of the old church, with plans in the future to create further outside seating by installing artificial grass, seats and heaters.

The Old Chapel has 10 tables and will open from Thursday to Monday from 9am to 3pm offering beverages, breakfast, brunch and lunch as well as home-made bakes.

Following The Old Chapel on Instagram via @theoldchapel3