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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
We are delighted to announce that from 6 Jan until early Apr 2025, work will take place to reinstate the church’s South Door onto Jermyn Street, part of Sir Christopher Wren’s original design.
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word.
We offer hospitality to people going through homelessness and speak out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
St James’s strives to advocate for earth justice and to develop deeper connections with nature.
We aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
The work of St James’s, it costs us £5,000 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us.
New walkways, a restored courtyard and re-landscaped gardens will provide fully accessible, beautiful spaces for everyone to enjoy as well as improving our environmental performance.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
The first stage in our much larger Wren Project, this work will not only reintegrate an important element of Wren’s original design back into the fabric of St James’s, but also significantly improve the church’s step-free access.
An equally important part of this work is the first stage of restoration of the historically significant organ and the laying of memorial stones removed to storage during the HS2 construction within the curtilage of the church.
Please note that on some occasions, it may be essential that we cannot allow access to the church at very short notice in the interests of public safety. This may occur before we have time to update our website information on opening times, which you can find here. Notices posted outside the church will provide the most up-to-date information about access.
We appreciate your understanding and patience during this work and hope you share our joy in noting that it marks the start of a very significant development for St James’s.
Services will run in the church during this period, some at altered times. You can check for the most up-to-date information on service times and details here.
However, there are two significant alterations to services.
Weekday services at 8:30am will not run during the restoration works at their usual time. Rather, we have sought to offer alternatives at other times less likely to experience disruption.
And, our popular Sanctuary service will run at St Pancras Euston during this period. During Advent, our partner church St Pancras Euston hosted the Sanctuary service to help accommodate our busy Christmas for All programme. Its success there has meant that we have decided for it to continue in its temporary home during these works.
Private worship
During most weeks of this period, we will be open for:
Daytime Prayer – Mon, Tue, Fri – 1pm Eucharist – Wed, Thur – 1pm
These timings are based on when we expect the least disruption. However, there will be occasions on which we cancel or alter these times, including at short notice, in the interests or public safety or due to excessive noise.
General access Everyone is welcome to visit the church throughout the restoration works during advertised opening times. But, they may find it quieter to visit at 10am or 1pm when construction workers take a scheduled 30min break. Or, alternatively, from 4:30pm onwards on weekdays, once work for the day has ceased, or at weekends when no construction work takes place.
Special arrangements have been made for safe access to as much of the church as possible. Please follow the signs in the vestibules to enter the church via the internal door nearest the Piccadilly side of the building. Signage and cordons within the church will indicate safe access routes.
Please note that on certain occasions we may be required to temporarily close the church entirely, sometimes at very short notice, in the interests of public safety while key construction activities are completed. Signs posted outside the church will provide the most up-to-the-hour information.
Access to the courtyard and Street Foodish market, the garden and The Caravan free counselling service will continue during the advertised opening times throughout the restoration works.
This work is just the first stage in the Wren Project that will transform the entire St James’s site in the coming years. The Wren Project is a £20million project of restoration, transformation and placemaking that will equip St James’s with a sustainable infrastructure better suited to the contemporary needs of the church and its works in the community.
The Wren Project is made possible through funding from the Heritage Fund, substantial donations from philanthropists and foundations, and the generous donations of individuals and local stakeholders who value St James’s and the importance of this work to enable it to do even more in the future.
To date, we have secured approximately 75% of the funding for the full project. And we aim to raise the remaining funding by July 2025.
To learn more about the Wren Project, or to help us realise the project through a donation, please visit the Wren Project page.
During the South Door restoration, our creative programme will be disrupted and the concert programme in the church will be temporarily suspended to enable these important works to take place.
However, we are delighted to announce that our partner church St Pancras Euston will be relaunching a concert programme for the first time since the COVID lockdowns.
St Pancras Euston has already proven a valuable partner and welcoming church for our Sanctuary services during Advent. We encourage you to attend their new programme of free lunchtime concerts and early evening “commuter hour” concerts that they will be introducing between 21st January and the early spring 2025.
During these works, St James’s will continue to run a number of online creative and congregational events. These will be listed on our What’s On page as usual.
But, to remain informed, you can sign up to our monthly Music, Arts, Ideas newsletter here.
The works undertaken in this initial stage of the Wren Project are complex and require specialist expertise. St James’s is delighted to be working with highly respected professionals to achieve this.
