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Sanctuary Story - February 2007
Welcome to the first edition of Sanctuary Story to be produced in 2007. You’ll be aware from your Christmas card that we had disappointing news at the City Council Licensing Hearing in November and we have had to go back to the drawing board regarding premises. This edition will focus primarily on the premises issues that we face right now and there are some very specific things for which we need you to join with us in prayer. So here goes!
Premises
Sanctuary needs to find a home. We are searching in the Sauchiehall Street area of Glasgow city centre and ideally we would like a two roomed venue where the second room could be used as a function suite/venue for Alpha courses etc. This would also give us the space to open up the second room as café space at busy periods and as we expand. To date, I have viewed three potential venues, and two of these are contenders. Let me give you some detail.
Venue one is a fully kitted-out, classy restaurant and is lovely! We will find out in the middle of February whether this is for sale and at what cost. It has previously been on sale at an annual rental of around £30k but with an additional one-off cost of £75k to buy the business. If the owners decide to re-market the property these figures may still stand; alternatively we have been informed by the agent that the owners may decide to sell the actual building as well as the business, in which case the purchase cost would be much greater. Although this sounds alarming, it might actually be easier to fund the building purchase, if a sympathetic investor could be identified that would be interested in buying the premises and allowing us to be their tenant.
Venue two is the exact opposite! Yesterday I viewed a shell – broken down stud walls, perspex ceiling that takes the word ‘suspended’ literally and no fixtures or fittings at all. This property, however, also has potential, since it is on Sauchiehall Street, has good space and a Class 3 food licence in place. We would need to refit the premises to our specifications, which would have a cost implication. What is the good news? The annual rental for this property would again be in the region of £30k but there would be no one-off business purchase cost, since there is no business there to buy.Confused? Me too, so that’s prayer point number one. Please pray for wisdom to know when we’ve found the right premises.
Licences
Once we have identified potential premises, we will need to apply for (possibly) two licences. We will need a Class 3 Food Licence and a Late Hours Catering Licence. Both properties we are investigating at present have the Class 3 Licence in place, but neither has a Late Hours licence. This is the licence that was refused for our previous property. Prayer point number two, therefore, is this. Please pray that Glasgow City Council will grant both licences when we apply for them, and pray also that any residents who live above the property will not lodge objections to our applications.
Funding
Once premises are identified and licences have been granted, our property will need to be bought and kitted out. Please pray that God will provide the required funding at the right time. I will be able to give you specific information on this once we have found the premises we need.Other News
In the last edition of Sanctuary Story, I asked you to pray for a funding application we had submitted to the Scottish Executive. Praise God that this application was granted and we have received £4000 to spend on various items, including a computer system for Sanctuary. We have also submitted an application to the Trades House of Glasgow Commonweal Fund. Please pray that this will be successful. Pray also that we will be able to identify further sources of funding and be successful in those applications.Give God thanks that all of our staff are happy to remain ‘on the books’ as potential staff members until we are ready for them. They are a great bunch of folk and are such an encouragement to us as a Board.
Finally, please pray for further opportunities for me to share the story of Sanctuary in churches and other groups around the greater Glasgow area. If you know of any groups that would be interested in hearing about this work, please do pass on my details to them. I’d be delighted to visit as many groups as possible in the forthcoming months to encourage them to pray for us and support our work in whatever way they can.
Thank you so much for your continued support. I have received many e-mails and telephone calls over the last few weeks which have been a real encouragement, and we all feel blessed that you are standing with us. Please do keep praying.
Ruth Box
Director, Sanctuary in the City
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