The Sale

Hamptons Sports and Leisure Club was put up for sale in October 2018. A bid of £2.4 million was made by the Chelmsford Muslim Society , who exchanged contracts in October 2019. The sale was completed on 14/02/20.

The funds to purchase the centre were crowdfunded and included donations from four other Essex mosques and one from Brent. The crowdfunding pages also included a single donation of £750,000 (for which no Gift Aid was claimed).

What will the new venue offer?

According to the Chelmsford Muslim Society, the venue will be known as the Chelmsford Islamic and Community Centre.

The CMS confirmed that the building can be described as a mosque because it is a place set aside for obligatory prayer - there will be two prayer rooms under the current plans.

The centre will include:

Prayer facilities for over 500 worshippers
Social events for sisters, families and youths
Funeral and bereavement services
Interfaith meetings, school and community visits
Sports and health care facilities
98 car parking spaces

The building offers 2,020 sq metres of floors space, and has a design allowing multiple configurations of some of the rooms.

Since the completion of the sale, new crowdfunding pages have appeared on behalf of the CMS, asking to help pay back a sizeable Islamic loan, install wudu facilities and carpet for the prayer areas.