Welcome to the Gregson Arts & Community Centre website. The buttons will guide you towards information about the Centre, its activities, and the facilities we can offer to you.

But first, a little background…

THE GREGSON Memorial Institute was built in memory of Samuel Gregson, MP and local benefactor, with funds raised by Christchurch Vicarage. The memorial fund brought a response from many influential figures such as the Storey Brothers and Lord Ashton. The letter sent out in October 1885 announced:

"The building seems a fitting object to associate with his name, as one that meets a crying want, and promises to be of great benefit to the Parish with which he has been so long identified and the interests of which he took so much to heart." 

DESIGNED by the renowned architects Austin and Paley, the Gregson was completed in 1894 with the addition of the Bartlett Hall (named after the first Vicar of Christchurch).

CHRIST CHURCH Parish sold the Gregson in 1983 to the Freehold Community Association Charity (FCA) to run as a community centre for the local area of benefit. The modern day Gregson Arts & Community Centre and Café/Bar hosts a variety of community functions serving the Freehold, Golgotha, Moorland, Primrose and Ridge areas of Lancaster, from public performances and meetings to private clubs and events.  

THE CENTRE is run on a commercial basis unsupported by any regular supply of public funds. Professional managers are employed to run the centre on a day to day basis, whilst the operations of the Gregson Community Association, the charity which now owns and maintains the centre itself, are organised and looked after by an elected committee of nine.  

THE AIMS of the Gregson Arts & Community Centre are to promote the benefit of the inhabitants of the local community, without distinction; to advance education and to provide facilities for recreation and leisure time activities.