A 19th century Victorian Gothic chapel; stunning surroundings to get you into the Christmassy mood. From an atmospheric, candlelit, free carol service to buzzing Winter party vibes of country, folk, jazz, soul, and more - see what's in store this December at your local architectural gem and celebrate the closing of the year with us.

Want to build you DIY skills or understand the craft of renovation? Love sustainability and heritage sites? Interested in the construction, maintenance, or conservation industries? We provide the tools and professional training to learn new or hone skills for your own renovations and boost creativity and sustainability.

Thanks to all who attended our Open Day on Saturday 14 September 2024 as part of Open House London and Heritage Open Days.

Around 250 visitors shared the space in celebration of our heritage, architecture, and unique organ. Read on to find out what we got up to, how much was raised to help save our Sunday School Hall, and what people loved about the day.

"We were here for over 3 hours, which is so unusual for us - there was so much to do and see, thank you!"

The story behind the creation of the ever-popular staple of Margins Cafe's pre-show dinner menu.

Walk within our walls on Saturday 14 September to discover our Grade I & II* listed buildings, unique organ, 200+ year legacy, and plans for the future - plus organ technology workshops for ages 7+ - in this unique day for all.

Bringing equality and social justice matters into sharp focus in a welcoming atmosphere, we joined with Anti-Apartheid Legacy and Union Chapel Church on Thursday 18 July 2024 to bring a free screening of the award-winning documentary 'Life Is Wonderful: Mandela's Unsung Heroes' to a intercultural and intergenerational audience. We learnt about the inspirational stories of Mandela's co-defendants and legal team during the 1964 Rivonia Trial followed by a short discussion and Q&A session with a panel including political theorist Dr Ayesha Omar, historian Amelia Francis and peer leader Guy Fred Rurangirwa. The evening opened with an introduction from Union Chapel's minister Vaughan Jones to a full house and was part of our Sunday School Stories Project activities of heritage and social justice.

Capital Works on Union Chapel’s Sunday School Project have begun this July 2024 as we aim to open the Sunday School Hall space up to the public mid-late 2025 as a community hub for all and to extend our cultural and heritage offering through Sunday School Stories activities and events.

We're thrilled to announce our Supported Employment Programme has received £20,000 so we can provide those with experience of homelessness and other crisis with paid catering training and support to improve their chances of employability and empower to build life skills, confidence and prospects, as a springboard to long-term employment and independence.

At Sunday School Stories, we're inviting you to learn heritage building skills to help sustainability, give new purpose to beautiful objects of the past, and bring together like-minded people as part of our community hub.

In May, under the guidance of facilitator Ethan Gallesio, our fantastic volunteers learnt all about wooden furniture restoration, breathing new life into antique cabinets that will be part of our Sunday School Stories activities for all next year. Learn more about the skill-building and community spirit below alongside photos of the hard work plus beautiful sketches of the atmosphere captured by illustrator Florrie Ann Thomas.

The power of words celebrated at Union Chapel with deep-dive debates, health advice, storytelling, and real life experiences shared from this month and throughout the year.

Come share our space, with opportunity to ask questions, with Paloma Faith, John Lydon, Zadie Smith, Jon Ronson, Dr Karan Rajan, and more.

See the shows and get your tickets here.

"Union Chapel is a very special and unique venue where I have performed 2 of the greatest shows of my career. The fact that they also impact and inspire the local community and through art, music and education is something that I happily give my complete support to." - OKIEM, award-winning pianist/composer

On the first Wednesday of the month, we open our doors for Guided Tours to fit into your lunchbreak.

Discover how Union Chapel began, the people behind its conception and growth, and what we do in the beautiful Victorian Gothic chapel; home to an inclusive church, an award-winning live venue, one of the UK's finest organs, and The Margins Project for those in crisis in London.

Every week, National Lottery players raise over £30 million for good cause projects like ours. On Wednesday 13 March, we're saying #ThanksToYou by inviting them to a free tour to discover our Grade I Victorian Gothic chapel, which is home to a radical church, award-winning venue, one of the UK's finest organs, and The Margins Project for those in crisis.

Last week, our creative community came together to help us build a Victorian Stage recently rediscovered in our archive of hidden gems.

Read on to see the beautiful photos and artwork, find out about the week of bustling activity, learn more about the development of our exciting Sunday School Stories Project and how you can get involved in future engaging and skill-building workshops and events.

In these cold months of rising costs, demand for our services continues to grow as more find themselves in critical living crisis.

Help us improve lives with our immediate and long-term services, needed now more than ever, of food, support, community, engagement, training, and hope.

Thanks to all who have donated and shared. This season, you've helped us raise £3089 to support our work and community. Donations are open year round.

Donate

In a year that saw new and deeper challenges for so many, we thank you for your continued support of our vital work - now helping even more community members in crisis.

Read on for our final update of the year and we hope you stay connected with our fight for a better 2024 and beyond.

Treat a loved one - or yourself - to the best in live music, comedy, and deep dive discussions with these Winter shows for the perfect last minute gift.

Maybe you feel like giving back and starting fresh this season and kick start 2024 for a better tomorrow.

Or join our free Christmas events for that extra bit of cheer.

Here's some hints, tips and holiday highlights...

Classical, cinematic, moving experiences coming to Union Chapel soon.

Thank you so much for coming to our Heritage Open Days and Open House London Festival event on Saturday 9 September 2023. It means a lot for us to share our world with our community. Read our round-up; complete with your feedback and glorious photos by Nicola and Len Morcombe.

Walk within our walls on Saturday 9 September to discover our Grade I & II* buildings, unique organ, 200+ year legacy, and plans for the future in this unique day for all.

Escape the every day with top shelf, international and home-grown comedy talent coming up at Union Chapel.

Laugh along to our comedy clip playlists and take your pick of the events you want to share with us (viewer discretion advised as videos may contain adult language and themes...)

Our Supported Employment Programme provides those with experience of homelessness and other crisis with paid catering training and support to improve their chances of employability. Discover photos and quotes from those involved

Become a Union Chapel Member by 31 May to get exclusive benefits + local deals for just £40 for a year (normal price £45)

Watch our new film, created by volunteer and broadcaster Archie Powell, to discover our essential work, our community, and for information on how you can help

Union Chapel Project presents its 21-22 report outlining our aims and achievements

This International Women's Day, we reflect on a first in Union Chapel's history back in 2021, and how the ripples from this wonderful project went on to do even more good for a fairer tomorrow.

This week, Islington South and Finsbury MP, the Rt Hon Emily Thornberry visited The Margins Project drop-in service that offers nutritious hot meals for over 70 people experiencing homelessness or living in precarious housing conditions as well as training and advice & engagement services

Walk 10km with the Margins Project on Friday 10th March 2023 to fight homelessness in London

The LHC London Walk 2023 brings London-based homeless charities and supporters together to walk as one. Register by 1st March

Watch the highlights video of one of the biggest moments of our 30th year as a live music venue was Ed Sheeran's unforgettable acoustic performance at the first Wellstock x For One Night Only event in aid of mental health charity Shout in October 2022.

We're bringing our roses to celebrate this Heritage treasures day - a design that is weaved throughout our Grade I & II* listed Victorian Gothic buildings, from the tiles that wrap our rooms to the iconic window that towers over gigs and services alike

Huge thanks to everyone who has come to our events and supported our work last year, our 30th year of being a live venue and charity. We ended the year reaching our Crowdfunder target and sharing our favourite gigs together with you, including Orchestra Baobab's sold-out show that ranked Time Out London's 2nd best gig of 2022 

We're thrilled to announce we'll be receiving a £25k National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant for urgent repairs to our Sunday School roof and brickwork, and to enable the installation of new accessible toilets.

Throughout December, AVIVA Community Fund will match your donation (up to £250) to help us change the lives of those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, crisis and disadvantage in our community

Our Christmas events are the perfect way to get yourself in to the festive spirit

12 Days of Giving is the last phase of Benefact Group's Movement for Good programme for 2022. For 12 days in December, they will draw 10 charities per working day to receive £1,000.

Your nomination really counts. £1000 could make a real difference to the work we do with and for our community. The more nominations we get, the greater our chance of winning, so please nominate us by end of November 2022 and help us spread the word!

From raising funds and awareness of homelessness hosting St Mungo's comedy night and the London Homelessness Awards, to Ed Sheeran's powerful, unique performance raising tons for mental health charity Shout, next Union Chapel Church kicked off the Black History Month programme, then we announced our Sunday School Stories grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund that made national broadcast news, wrapping up our week with an intergalactic event of live music, reading, Q&A, and signing of Tom Fletcher's new children's book SPACE BAND. And October has much more to come...

We are delighted to announce that Union Chapel has been awarded a grant of £1,054,500 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for our Sunday School Stories project.

The Margins Project, based at Union Chapel, offers a range of services supporting people facing homelessness, risk of homelessness and crisis in Islington. These services aim to help people in their hour of need and with their long-term support needs. In our Autumn update, meet the team, learn how their work has helped others, and how you can support

We're thrilled to announce that we've been shortlisted for Best Loved public building in the SPAB Heritage Awards 2022. Learn more about the awards and vote for your favourite here by 31st October

We’re opening the Union Chapel doors to all in our free open days coming this 18th & 21st of September. Come see what’s happening In Union 

Discover what we do in the beautiful Gothic Victorian architecture of our Grade I and II* building, which is home to an inclusive church, an award winning live music, comedy, and screening venue, a unique organ, and The Margins Project for those in crisis in London.  

This last week has been a very important - and emotional - week for us at Union Chapel. 

We were overjoyed to be open to re-open as a venue to audiences for the first time properly since 19th March 2020 – 16 months ago.

And we couldn’t have wished for a better artist to re-open our venue than Celeste, with great support from Hak Baker. As the reviews came in, Celeste at Union Chapel quickly became the hottest ticket in the UK (well, maybe aside from tickets to Wembley!)