St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor

What St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor does

St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee operating a community centre in Spennymoor, County Durham, UK. The organisation provides a multi-purpose venue comprising a Main Hall (up to 120 capacity), the Olive Room (up to 20), and the Green Room (up to 16), supporting weddings, corporate meetings, NHS training, and community programmes. It operates The Café @ St Paul's (also branded The Whistling Teapot Café), a foodbank under The Trussell Trust via Durham Christian Partnership, and a diverse community activities programme including dementia support, wellbeing groups, and children's activities. Annual footfall has grown from approximately 3,000 in 2010 to nearly 34,000.

The underlying infrastructure is conventional venue AV: a 3.6m wide cinema screen with daylight video projector, 65-inch interactive SMART Whiteboard in the Olive Room, sound and lighting systems, free WiFi, and online broadcasting capability. Damascus Road Technical Services is an in-house social enterprise providing AV hire, PAT testing, installation services, and event broadcast to both internal and external clients. The organisation holds Hallmark 1, 2 and 3 quality standard accreditation (achieved 2014, renewed 2020) and is GDPR compliant.

Revenue is generated through four streams: café operations (transaction-based, items priced £2.05-£8.99), venue hire (Main Hall, Olive Room, Green Room, wedding packages), Damascus Road Technical Services (professional services), and community group fees/subscriptions. Governance is provided by a board of nine trustees, with three new trustees appointed in November 2023. The centre is volunteer-supported with 1-10 paid employees and has no external venture capital or private equity ownership. A building extension was completed in December 2025, adding the Olive Room to the hire portfolio.

Name

St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor

Legal name

St Pauls (Spennymoor) Centre Ltd

Website

https://stpaulscentrespennymoor.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor is a registered charity operating a community centre in County Durham, UK, providing venue hire, a café, foodbank, community activities, and in-house AV services to local residents, public sector bodies, NHS, and wedding clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Centre Services

NAICS

Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Civic and Social Organizations (8134), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Services-To Dwellings & Other Buildings (7340)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL)

Keywords

• Community centre services
• Venue hire operations
• Community support programmes
• Foodbank assistance
• Social enterprise services

Headquarters

HQ city

Spennymoor

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Café Operations: Onsite café serving fresh food daily, breakfast items, light lunches, and afternoon refreshments. Revenue from food and beverage sales.
2. Venue Hire: Multiple rooms available for hire including Main Hall (up to 120 capacity), Olive Room (up to 20), and Green Room (up to 16). Catering packages available.
3. Damascus Road Technical Services: In-house social enterprise providing AV equipment hire, PAT testing, installation services, and technical consultancy. Generates revenue from services to centre events and external clients.
4. Community Group Fees: Ongoing groups including Foodbank, wellbeing activities, dementia support, children's programmes, and various clubs charging membership or session fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor is a registered charity and social enterprise operating a community centre in Spennymoor, County Durham, UK. It provides an on-site café serving fresh food daily, three venue-hire rooms (Main Hall, The Olive Room, The Green Room) accommodating 2 to 120 guests, wedding reception hosting for up to 100 guests, a community foodbank operating under The Trussell Trust, a programme of community activities (wellbeing groups, dementia support, children's activities, singing and photography groups), and Damascus Road Technical Services, an in-house social enterprise providing AV, sound, lighting, cinema screen, and online broadcast services.

Product overview

St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor is a community-focused charity and social enterprise offering a unified portfolio of services centered around its community centre facilities. The core offerings include: venue hire spaces (Main Hall, The Olive Room, The Green Room) for events ranging from 2 to 120 guests; an on-site café serving freshly prepared meals; wedding reception venue hire for up to 100 guests; a foodbank service; and Damascus Road Technical Services, an in-house AV/social enterprise providing sound, lighting, and broadcast capabilities. The centre also runs a diverse programme of community activities including wellbeing groups, dementia support, art and photography sessions, and children's activities. These services are interconnected—the venue hire spaces are supported by Damascus Road's technical expertise, the café provides catering for events, and community activities drive footfall to all centre services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Damascus Road: In-house social enterprise providing technical audio & visual expertise, lighting, sound, cinema screen, PAT testing, and security systems

Products and services

• The Café @ St Paul's Centre On-site café serving fresh, locally sourced food daily. Offers breakfast, brunch, main meals, light lunches, and desserts. Provides catering for events and special occasions held at the centre.
• Main Hall Multi-purpose function hall measuring 17.2m x 9m x 3.4m. Can seat 120 people theatre-style or 100 in wedding configuration. Features a 3.6m wide screen and daylight video projector professionally operated by Damascus Road Technical Services.
• The Olive Room Recently completed extension room measuring 5.5m x 8.15m (45m2 floor area) with sloping ceiling up to 3.7m high. Suitable for groups of 2 to 20. Features a 65" interactive SMART Whiteboard, LED dimmable ceiling lights, and natural high-level lighting.
• The Green Room Meeting room measuring 5m x 7.2m (36m2 floor area) suitable for groups from 2 to 16. Features a 65" Smart TV with stereo sound bar, LED ceiling panel lighting, and high-level natural light.
• Wedding Venue Hire

Quantifiable outcome

• 34,000 annual visitors - grew from 3,000 in 2010
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NHScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS organisations use the centre as a meeting room and training centre. The centre provides space for health-related community services and wellbeing programmes.
• Durham County CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDurham County Council uses the centre as a training centre and community hub. Major funder of extension project. Provides funding for children's summer activities.
• Spennymoor Area Action Partnership (AAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAAP supported the centre extension project. Funded various events including half-term film mornings and community activities.
• Jack Drum ArtsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerArts organisation partnered for Summer Fun & Food sessions, providing wild and fantastical stories activities for children.
• Wellbeing for LifeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth and wellbeing programme using centre facilities for community health initiatives.
• Durham Christian Partnership FoodbankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe centre's foodbank operates under The Trussell Trust umbrella via Durham Christian Partnership, providing emergency food to those in need.
• St Paul's ChurchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerClose relationship with St. Paul's Church. The centre emerged from the church's PCC initiative. Located next to the church. Rev. Matt serves as both church minister and centre trustee.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Castlehaven Community Association: North London community centre offering venue hire, community activities, café, and a foodbank-style support offering. Closely comparable as a charitable community association serving a defined local catchment with a multi-service operating model.
• Old Diorama Arts Centre: Charitable arts venue in central London offering room and theatre hire plus community programming. Similar to St. Paul's Centre in operating a single building for hire alongside community activities under charitable governance.
• The Albany: Deptford-based charitable arts and community centre running venue hire, community programmes, and a café with food services. Comparable as a single-site UK charity with diversified community-facing revenue streams.
• St Bride Foundation: London venue charity offering meeting and event hire, a café, and community/educational programming from a historic building. Comparable as a small-staffed UK charity monetising a community facility through multiple services.
• Karamel London: North London community arts venue combining a plant-based café with performance and hire space. Closely analogous in pairing food service with venue hire within a single community-anchored facility.

Broad incumbents

• Battersea Arts Centre: Larger London charitable arts venue operating a café, multiple hireable performance and event spaces, and a wide community programme. Comparable business model but materially larger scale and broader programming remit.

Regional players

• Phoenix Brighton: Brighton-based charity operating a community building with studios, a café, and room hire alongside wellbeing and creative programmes. Comparable multi-service charitable community-venue model in a different UK region.
• St. Margaret's House: Edinburgh-based charitable arts and community centre with studio hire, café, and a diverse programme of wellbeing and creative activities. Directly comparable service mix but operates in Scotland rather than England.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/st.paulscentrespennymoor
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/st-pauls-spennymoor-centre-limited

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about St. Paul's Centre Spennymoor