Ebenezer Chapel set to be sold after council win legal battle for auction to proceed

The Ebenezer Chapel is on the auction block once again, this time with some confidence from Wrexham Council a sale should complete.

A previous attempt to sell was blocked after a legal challenge, however the local authority successfully defended the challenge from a community group trying to block a sale.

The building, located in Cefn Mawr, received a significant injection of grant funding in 2008, which saw it converted into a community centre with office and gallery spaces and a café bar.

However, the project encountered financial difficulties because of a lack of visitors and the former Baptist chapel site closed its doors five years later.

The property was set to be auctioned off in 2019 by Wrexham Council amid interest from the Plas Kynaston Canal Group, which had ambitious plans to link it to a new cable car system.

However, the auction was pulled pending that interest – before returning to the auction block where no sale completed. The building was set to be on auction last month however that was thwarted at the last minute due to a legal challenge by a community group, with an interim injunction granted preventing the sale.

After a full hearing finding in favour of Wrexham Council the property is once again on sale with Pugh Auctions.

The guide price is £100,000 plus buyer’s premium and various fees.

The particulars are as you would expect the same as last time, noting the property is: “…a vacant commercial premises extending to approximately 320sqm situated on the outskirts of Wrexham.

“Believing to date back to the late 1800’s and having undergone an extensive renovation programme in recent years the property has been used most recently as a community centre and offers a wide variety of potential future uses, subject to gaining the necessary planning consent.”

The fifteen document strong legal pack is available from the auctioneers, detailing the usual land registry searches and other such historic details.

Auctioneers say bidding starts on Tuesday 25th May and ends on Wednesday the 26th.