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The newly refurbished St Stephen’s |
Get us to the church... in time for the reception as St Stephen’s finds a new role
IT stood derelict for more than three decades, but now 40 years after wedding bells last rang out from St Stephen’s Church in Hampstead a bride will once again walk down the aisle.
On Sunday, company director Anita Jakhu, 37, will marry Hampstead-born architect David Lyndon, 39, at Hampstead Town Hall, before they become the first couple to use the restored church at the top of Pond Street for their wedding reception.
Built in 1861 by Victorian architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, St Stephen’s was widely regarded as one of the country’s finest Gothic churches, but was closed to worship in 1976 due to rising maintenance costs.
Squatters then moved in and the building became rundown. But following a 10-year, £4million renovation project which has transformed the grade I-listed building into an impressive community venue, St Stephen’s will open its doors to 150 of the couple’s friends and family on Sunday.
Mr Lyndon, who formerly lived in Constantine Road before moving to Carleton Road, Tufnell Park, said: “When I lived in the area I walked past the church almost every day and was always very curious about the building. It was very fortuitous for us that it had reopened after such a long renovation project.”
Patrick Anthony, who manages the building, said Sunday’s party would be just the first of many. “The floodgates are now open,” he said. “It’s been a long 10 or 11-year process to get where we are now. It’s going to be fabulous.” |
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