A CHURCH hall which has been an inner city landmark for decades is set to be demolished.
St Kevin's Hall on North Queen Street belongs to nearby St Patrick's Parish Church, which this year celebrates its bicentenary.
Confirmation of the planned demolition, which is expected to take place in coming months, comes weeks after the hall was shut.
Following an audit of the parish the church said the hall had been found to be "not fit-for-purpose".
It is anticipated that "in the long term" a new facility will be built on the site.
A busy community hub, the hall has hosted a wide array of community events over the years, including sporting fixtures and shows.
The facility is located in part of north Belfast which is undergoing major change, following the demolition of the nearby PSNI station to make way for homes and proposals to build accommodation for thousands of students at an expanding Ulster University campus.
Following the audit parishioners were told in a bulletin that "the present facility is not fit-for-purpose" and that it required major financial investment "to meet basic standards of health, safety and accessibility" which the church was not in a position to provide.
"For a considerable period of time it has been unable to achieve this and the facility has placed an increasingly burdensome drain on parish resources," parishioners were told.
It is understood that Lagan Construction, which is currently undertaking construction work on the new Ulster University development in the area, will carry out the demolition in return for use of the site to store machinery.
"This mutually beneficial arrangement will enable us to achieve our long-term objectives for the site in a way which avoids considerable expenditure on demolition," the church statement added.
