A Gallery within a Victorian Church, working with Bay Unite, who are a Community Group overseeing the café, worship, music, support groups and other events open to all.

We opened up in June 2025. After spending six months working with the owners of the building, United Reformed Church, on completing the necessary building works to ensure the church is fit for purpose as a multi -purpose Arts & Community centre.

Previously

The Gallery came into existence in January 2024, as a pop up in an old Post office on William Street in Herne Bay. The space was supplied for free on a limited time frame of six months. Sarah Baulch has a background in exhibitions, events and pop-ups.  And as an Artist in her own right who had reached out to, worked alongside and shown art by local people over five years it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.

Local artists had solo shows over two weeks in one of the spaces of the old post office, another space was a great studio for an ever changing group show of smaller works and the main area could be themed, as a contrast or in addition to the solo show work on display. This venture proved there was an audience and appetite for the Arts in Herne Bay which was not being met.

At the end of the six months it came to light, that the United Reformed Church (just around the corner from William Street) was set to close in December 2024. Several visitors asked if the Gallery could be set up in the church; could contribute to writing up the plans to save the church and if help could be given in leading the Building works needed to save it.

Building on these enquires, meetings took place and the Gallery became involved in applying to the URC to keep the church open, providing plans as to how financially it could work and liasing with a local charity to support this application.

Bay Unite, with Community, Creativity & Contemplation at its centre came out of those meetings. An Art Gallery, a Community café, pop up worship, classical music programme and the facilitating of support groups like AA are its foundations.

The Gallery led this venture, provided the vision for how the space looks, the groundwork for how it works as a multi-purpose arts venue and galvanised Volunteers into getting involved in this project.