Guernsey's St James venue gets £25k post-pandemic support

The former chapel was reopened as a venue in 1985

A venue in Guernsey has been given a grant of £25,000 and been promised further support in 2024.

The Guernsey Community Foundation said the St James facility had been awarded the money and help.

It had been needed because it had seen lower ticket sales since the coronavirus pandemic, and had also been forced to use its reserves, it said.

Venue bosses said the "breathing space" would give it a chance to launch "new policies" to work on its survival.

St James executive director, Jon Bisson said the venue had suffered financial downturns post-Covid "like much of the hospitality sector".

He said: "This was a huge shame after the very successful expansion in 2019.

"[But] We recognised the need to see where trading levels would settle in this new environment.

"The breathing space afforded by the foundation's underwrite allows us to launch these new policies and let them develop while the world around us settles into its new norm."

Jim Roberts, chief executive of the foundation, said securing the venue's immediate future was in the island's interest.

He said the "treasured venue" was also "a vital resource for dozens of charities and community organisations".

The building, a former chapel for Elizabeth College, which was completed in 1818, became redundant in 1970 and fell into partial decay.

A friends association to restore and turn it into a concert and assembly hall was formed in 1981, with the building officially reopening in 1985.

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