Forgotten Methodist Halls ‘thrived in every city’

03 Oct 2012 A University of Manchester historian has discovered how the Methodist Church built some of Britain's most important and successful community buildings in the early twentieth century - now mostly forgotten. Angela Connelly says that 99 'Methodist Central Halls' were built costing an equivalent of £90 million in today's terms. Today, the Methodist Church owns only 18 of the original buildings, many of which have been substantially altered. Twenty seven have been completely demolished or bombed in the war. Nineteen are protected as listed buildings and all, she says, were large buildings designed not to look like a church. Connelly, who is based at Manchester Architecture Research Centre, said: "Nearly everyone in the UK will have seen a Methodist Central Hall: Pavarotti performed at Kingsway Hall and the UN Declaration was signed in Westminster Central Hall. "But few of us know what they are, how they are used or what has happened to them.