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We offer daily services and a cultural programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
Revd Dr Ayla Lepine met with curator and art historian Alayo Akinkugbe for a conversation about justice, beauty and hope expressed in Che Lovelace’s paintings and Cugoano’s memorial.
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. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round cultural programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
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.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
Monday 23 Oct – Sunday 26 Nov, inside the church, open daily admission free
Pop-up exhibition in partnership with London Fire Brigade Museum and Square Mile Churches.
Getting here
We are at 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, about 200 yards from Piccadilly Circus.
As part of the celebration of Sir Christopher Wren’s legacy, the London Fire Brigade Museum, in collaboration with the Square Mile Churches, tell a powerful story of resilience and regeneration through a pop-up exhibition of reproductions of paintings by firefighter artists.
At 7.54pm on 14 October 1940, St James’s Piccadilly was hit by high explosive and incendiary bombs in the first phase of the London Blitz. When the smoke cleared, the church was a burnt out ruin and it remained a roofless shell for nearly seven years.
Among the firefighters was a remarkable group of artists. Painters including W S Haines, Reginald Mills, Paul Dessau, Julia Lowenthal and Mary Pitcairn, recorded the experience of firefighters thrown into the horror of the Blitz, from dramatic paintings of incidents to more reflective scenes of firefighters at rest.
*Please note this exhibition is series of information panels and does not include the actual paintings. They are in storage as we work on plans for a new Museum for London Fire Brigade.
Fire in the city
Driving by Mary Pitcairn. This painting shows AFS Firewoman Gillian ‘Bobbie’ Tanner. The artist, fellow AFS firewoman, Mary Pitcairn was secretary of the Firemen Artists Organising Committee.
Fire in the City: Artists in the Blitz* can be seen in a cluster of churches to the west of St Pauls Cathedral, including St James’s over the coming weeks.
For more information and details of Fire in the City guided walks click here
