Union Chapel, Islington

Union Chapel
October, 2006 photo of the Union Chapel
Coordinates: 51°32′41″N 0°06′09″W / 51.544707°N 0.102503°W / 51.544707; -0.102503
Country	England
Denomination	Congregationalist
Website	www.unionchapel.org.uk
Architecture
Architect(s)	James Cubitt
Clergy
Minister(s)	Karen Stallard

Union Chapel is a working church, live entertainment venue and charity drop-in centre for the homeless in Islington, London, England. Built in the late 19th century in the Gothic revival style, the church is Grade I-listed. It is at the top end of Upper Street, near Highbury Fields.

The church hosts live music and comedy events, and was voted London's Best Live Music Venue by readers of Time Out magazine in 2012.

The Margins Project, based in the Union Chapel, provides a range of support services to people facing homelessness, crisis and isolation. It operates a Sunday drop-in that provides meals, showers and laundry facilities. It also offers help with accessing housing, employment and health services and weekly art classes.

Union Chapel is a Congregational church, which describes itself as "liberal, inclusive, non-hierarchical, and non-conformist" and meets every Sunday for worship. The church is also open on Wednesday mornings for private prayer, and a Bible study group meets Wednesday lunchtime.

The congregation first met in 1799 in a house in Highbury Grove as a union of evangelical Anglicans and non-conformists, and moved to a previous building on the present site in Compton Terrace, just off Upper Street, in 1806. The current building is in the Victorian gothic style of architecture. It was designed by James Cubitt of Loughton, and built between 1874 and 1877, with further additions from 1877 to 1890, while Henry Allon was pastor. The chapel was used for a major scene in the 1982 film, Who Dares Wins. Since 1982, the charity Friends of Union Chapel has helped restore and preserve the church and organise activities. Behind the church is the large Sunday School, built on the Akron Plan.