CHURCH leaders are appealing for donations to help them save a dilapidated vinegar works warehouse from rack and ruin.

Hope Church wants to reopen the four-storey building, known as the granary, in St Martin’s Quarter, Worcester, next year.

The congregation plans to hold its Sunday gatherings on the top floor of the property, while the lower levels will be converted into community rooms, a kitchen and potentially a cafe.

Richard Thomas, aged 58, team leader for the church, said the overall project will cost an estimated £1.7million.

He added: “We recently failed in our bid for some lottery funding toward the restoration of this historic building, so any help anyone could offer would be welcome.

“We are about to go to tender for phase one - to restore the current building.

“We are hoping to raise £700,000 for phase one. If we did the whole thing it would mean raising a further £1million.

“Since purchase we have, bit by bit, removed layers and layers of later additions and rubbish to strip back the building and reveal its Victorian bones. Getting it back to the original brick.

“We’ve also removed two floors of hazardous pigeon waste. We are trying to rescue it from complete ruination.”

Mr Thomas, of St Peter’s, Worcester, said the top floor of the building will also be available for business conferences and meetings in the week.

He added that the two middle levels could be used for community purposes, while the ground floor will become a kitchen and potentially a coffee lounge.

The property fell into disuse around 10 years ago and was previously used as a call centre, offices and a tyre and wheel depot, according to Mr Thomas.

He said the church, which bought the site outright, has already raised £300,000 towards the project and could likely mortgage another £200,000.

The development could also be funded with interest-free loans and gifts from charities, Mr Thomas added.

Hope Church, which currently holds its services at Nunnery Wood High School, received planning permission for the project in June 2016.

The old Hill, Evans & Co vinegar works were built around 1830 and became the biggest in the world, producing two million gallons of malt vinegar a year.

To donate contact the church via www.hope-church.org.uk