New Wine Church

History of the building

The cinema was opened as the Odeon Theatre on 25 October 1937 with Ralph Reader in The Gang Show. It was designed for the Oscar Deutsch chain of Odeon Theatres by architect George Cole who came up with a streamlined Art Deco style.

Inside the auditorium there were troughs of concealed lighting and a moulded plaster decoration on the splay walls in the form of a floral freize which had backlighting. Seating was provided for 1,178 in the stalls and 650 in the balcony. It was modernised internally in May 1964, a process known as the Rank Organisation's "zing" treatment. It continued as the Odeon until closing on 17 October 1981. Independent film exhibitors Panton Films took over the building from 14 July 1983 and it reopened as the Coronet Cinema with Return of the Jedi. It was converted into a twin cinema from 6 July 1990 with seating for 678 in the former balcony and 360 seats in the former rear stalls. The Coronet was closed on 6 June 1999.

It was taken over by the New Wine Church from 2001 and the building is now known as Gateway House which continues in church use today. The New Wine Church has made a number of alterations and renovations to the building. The building is a Grade II Listed Building and is currently used for (and is available for) weddings, music concerts, conferences, exercise classes and business meetings.

Global ministry

New Wine International claims to be a vibrant assembly of Christian believers whose aim is to help people to discover and maximise their God-given potential. The ministry of New Wine Church affects many people through different local and international activities. The church works hard at being a pillar of support to the local community and a beacon to the international community.

The church, with the assistance of its affiliate, New Wine Covenant Partners, has taken part in missionary activities in Australia, the Netherlands, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Tanzania and the United States. Internationally, New Wine has built a housing estate of 55 homes for over 100 lepers in Chennai India. The estate also benefits from a full-time nurse, electricity, clean water, food and a chaplaincy. The Church also funds a water project in Zambia, providing boreholes for 10 villages. They run an Operation Christmas child campaign which provides shoe boxes filled with gifts for Eastern European children.

Borough Deans

One of the seven Ecumenical Borough Deans in Greenwich was Minister Olu Ajanaku, Assistant Pastor at New Wine Church; he represents the Black majority churches. EBDs are representatives of Christian churches to local government in London. Mr David Chick took over this role in January 2015 and represents the Black-led churches.

Community initiatives

Locally, New Wine has been able to provide over 25000 Christmas hampers to single parents and low income families in the local community with over 124,000 beneficiaries. Alongside their other initiatives, they offer a food bank and a weekly breakfast forum for the homeless people in the community. An annual Carers’ Awards Dinner celebrates outstanding carers in the area. They also offer support and encouragement to the inmates at Belmarsh Prison through their prison outreach ministry. They support their local community and contribute to building a better Borough of Greenwich by praying for the Councillors and MPs as well as working with the community leaders at various levels. The church serves as a multicultural place of worship with many nationalities represented.