FT263

In Britain you are not going to be arrested for being a spiritualist, but you could find your church at risk if it gets in the way of a major developer. That was nearly the fate of the Britten Spiritualist Centre at Lancaster, after finding itself on a list of buildings proposed for demolition to make way for a planned shopping development involving the city’s Canal Corridor, Northern Side. The shopping scheme was originally going to be a joint venture between Lancaster City Council and London retail developer Centros. In circumstances that are unclear, someone described the spiritualist centre in the application as being “redundant” and therefore posing no obstacle to demolition.