St Mary’s Community Centre

Just behind St Mary’s Centre is St Mary’s Church, whose long and rich history inspired its creation.

St Mary’s Church was built in 1874 at the heart of a working-class community and near to Pimlico’s slums. From its earliest days it actively engaged in social action, organising working men’s groups, sewing clubs, local cricket matches and charabanc outings. The church’s mission was to serve its congregation is whatever way it could: in January 1878, in his first weekly newsletter to parishioners, the vicar wrote that, alongside births, deaths and marriage notices, ‘I will be happy to insert in it, free of cost, advertisements from those who want places or require work.’ His parishioners took him up on his offer and copies of those original newsletters can still be seen in the Library.

In the early 1900s the area saw significant development and became more ‘fashionable’ so that in the early 1920s the church was expanded to accommodate its growing congregation. At the same time the neighbouring Pine Apple Public House was purchased and converted into a Presbytery for the clergy, with a separate cottage providing accommodation for nuns who lived and worked in the community. The church also became a leading voice in the Anglo-Catholic movement, providing a central voice for closer union with the Roman Catholic church and attracting a congregation from further afield. The post-war period saw it became more involved with local schools, developing a number of choirs, and today it has one of London’s foremost musical traditions.

In response St Mary’s launched The Pineapple Project, to convert the ground and part of the first floor of the Presbytery into a community centre that could serve the needs of the parish and beyond. Architectural plans were drawn up, and permissions secured. The arrival of the Covid pandemic in 2020 created some delay as St Mary’s turned its attention towards supporting those most immediately affected by the crisis. However, in 2021 fundraising began in earnest. Both the congregation and the local community donated generously, as did Westminster Council and a number of valued trusts and foundations. Building work began in 2022 and St Mary’s Centre opened in Autumn 2023. A new charity, Pine Apple Bourne Street Ltd, was created to protect the centre’s charitable intentions and guide it forwards to meet the challenges of this new era in the building’s history.