About His Place

His Place is an independent charity based in Hastings, we own a beautiful grade 2 listed building in the town centre, a hidden gem, it was first built in 1856, and rebuilt in 1885 with many original design features remaining.

The building started being used as a base for community togetherness, support, and education, from when it was built in 1856 and the tradition has carried on and expanded since His Place took ownership in 2014.

His Place Community Church and Centre plays an important role in the daily life of Hastings. His Place is a church, community hub, cafe ,and multi use performance & conference space in the heart of Hastings. 
The charity is not subsidized and all income is ploughed back into providing services to the community and towards the upkeep of the building. Fundraising continues to secure the building’s future with the Cambridge Road side of the building now requiring urgent work to the gully water system and some areas of stone work. His Place relies on it’s volunteer team within the church and cafe service areas. Henry Ward Hall income enables the events team to be paid for their live hours of work, with profit made being put towards the future maintenance and restoration of the building.

His Place Charity’s three areas of operation:

His Place Community Church – which is a lively church and uses the building Sunday mornings, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and then hosts it’s other activities off site on other days and times to enable the community use of the building.
Our Church welcomes everyone regardless of class, belief, or ethnicity.  Church service is on Sundays at 10:30am and is open to all. Prayer and praise Wednesdays 7.30pm – 9pm, Hybrid Bible Study takes place on Thursdays 7.30pm in person in the cafe area and online. There are many social activities to do with the church and always refreshments pre and post service. 

The Cafe – this is a community hub not only for local people, but regular users who come from as far afield Ashford, Eastbourne and further. The kitchen serves home made food and refreshments from 10am – 2pm.
We host Hastings Safe Space an NHS Initiative, and addiction support groups, peer support groups including 1066 Crafters, East Sussex Hearing and Just Friends. On Saturdays when open the sensory room is available, the hall is set up as a activity room with the table tennis, Wii, board games, crafts. The piano is available to be played and the games and crafts are available freely to use.

Henry Ward Hall – is Sussex’s most impressive medium-sized live performance space. Situated in the church on the 1st floor. “The Hall” has a long history of music and performance dating back from the 1870s when marching army bands would perform here, Charles Dickens’ brother in law was the organist, and the Hastings Girls Choir (predecessor Hastings Philharmonic Choir) and the Sussex Schools Choir Competitions where regularly held here. From 2017 – 2022 Opus Theatre Hastings were in partnership with His Place providing classical music concerts and bringing international composers and performers to the space and aiding in provision of funds to maintain the building. Between our gallery and first floor seating Henry Ward Hall can accommodate 100 – 350 people. Our internal promotions are curated by Nashville transplant, Mike Willis, and feature a diverse range of homegrown and touring artists and events. The space is available for hire for conferences and meetings of various sizes, as with stage curtaining we are able to manage the space required to suit. We aim to become a training centre for young people or unemployed wishing to learn stage craft and management and are hoping to secure grant funding to make this a reality.

The pictures below relate to the community aspect of the cafe.

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