A church on a historic religious site is set to be torn down and replaced with a new supermarket, after the building was deemed to be an ‘eyesore’.

The Maghull Methodist Church on Liverpool Road has a long and storied history and located on a site where religious services have been held since 1778.

The first Methodist church was built at Liverpool Road in 1896, with the current building having been constructed in 1965. An extension was erected in 1995, adding side buildings to the original structure.

placeholder image — Maghull Methodist Church | Google/LDRS

A decision was taken to close the church in June 2021 after a “decline” in numbers attending regular services, which made the running of the church “impossible”, according to a statement posted on its website.

Since then, there have been three failed planning applications to demolish the church building and develop a local convenience store, but they have all been withdrawn or refused. These included the first proposal to demolish the church in 2023 which was rejected because the applicant failed to post a site notice, according to Sefton Council.

The applicant is Central Co-op and it has now submitted a new planning application to Sefton Council on July 25. Within The Co-op’s retail statement – adjoined to the application – the company said it has ‘directly addressed’ past concerns, and are confident the application will be approved.

The application is for the erection of a new Cooperative Foodstore and includes plans to demolish the church and three smaller buildings on the site. The statement added: “The site has been vacant since September 2021 and is falling into a state of disrepair.

“Although the site is boarded up and secured, it has been the subject of repeated anti-social behaviour, including arson, and it is an eyesore in the local streetscene.”

The ‘arson’ point refers to an incident in 2023 when Maghull Methodist Church when a fire broke out at the empty hut on the church grounds. Footage published at the time, shows the moment thick black smoke poured out of the derelict church site, resulting in severe damage to the building.

The statement added: “The plot is in urgent need of regeneration, and would benefit from redevelopment to bring the land back into productive local use.”

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