---
title: "Building cathedrals of culture"
date: "2026-07-02T06:36:00+01:00"
modified: "2026-06-07T17:49:32+01:00"
url: "https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/building-cathedrals-of-culture/"
post_id: 10609
---

# Building cathedrals of culture

![The exterior of Storyhouse Chester, photographed in 2018](https://newhumanist.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/3840px-Storyhouse_Chester_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_6006392-1200x800.jpg)Storyhouse, Chester in 2018. Credit: Jeff Buck/CC 2.0‘‘The Moon is closed to visitors due to a ticketed event. Apologies for the inconvenience.” A real sign, in an unexpected location: Saturday afternoon in the medieval cathedral in Chester, between Liverpool and north Wales, where artist Luke Jerram’s giant sculptural installation “Museum of the Moon” – suspended from the Gothic vaulted roof – has been drawing families to marvel at its glowing beauty. A silent disco is underway, the silence broken only by children squealing in delight as Spiderman and a selection of other comic-book heroes make their entrance to this special event. Jerram’s sculptures are regularly on display in museums, churches and leisure centres around the world. And it’s a sign of how the Church of England is engaging with modern art to bring in the crowds.

Here in one of Britain’s oldest cities, the Church is following the evidence from another cathedral of sorts, just around the corner, which has been drawing in locals through art and culture one way or another for over 90 years. The grand art deco Odeon cinema opened in 1936 but sat empty for 10 years after closing in 2007. Now, it’s home to the award-winning charity Storyhouse Chester: a public library, theatre, cinema and community hub.

Storyhouse opened in 2017 as a new kind of collaboration between creatives and the city council, many of whose local services are now housed within it. The doors to the foyer welcome you in – a children’s library is to your right, warm and brightly lit. To the left you walk into a huge, curved space with a bar and cafe and bookshelves everywhere. Within the shell of the old cinema stalls is the entrance to an 800-seat theatre, where rehearsals are underway for Shakespeare’s *Macbeth* – smart programming in the run-up to the summer exam season. The stairs take you up to a new spacecraft-like enclosed cinema. There are meeting rooms you can book for clubs and private work.

There is nothing superficial about Storyhouse. It’s the real deal. There’s a well-stocked library, full of physical books, research materials and quiet spaces to read and study. In the reference section I find people of all ages reading the newspapers. On a shelf I am particularly delighted to find the latest edition of the *Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook* – the essential starting point for many aspiring writers to find an agent and become a published author. Teenagers and senior citizens, parents with young toddlers – all at ease. It feels welcoming and respectful and, importantly, sociable but not noisy. It’s open seven days a week from early in the morning until 11pm.

Wandering around, I pause often on the many balconies to take in a fresh angle and the elegance of the architecture blending old and new. I look down on the light-filled space and marvel at a city’s people hanging out together.

Storyhouse Chester has won awards for its design, but is especially proud of its 2022 UK Theatre Award for excellence in arts education; recognition for its work with so-called “Neets” – young people not in education, employment or training.

Worldwide, the Covid pandemic hit many city centres hard, leaving them feeling empty and abandoned. In the UK, recent employer tax changes and longstanding high business rates on physical shops haven’t helped. Chester’s medieval city centre had already been struggling before then, challenged by car-friendly shopping malls built in the 1980s. Now these malls are struggling, and there is a delightful irony to an obsolete cinema becoming the heart of a city’s regeneration.

At a time when there is much doom and gloom about studying the humanities at school and university, Chester offers glorious proof of how a long-term commitment by local government to the redemptive power of culture can transform a place. After my visit I really believe it is art that will save us.