'Four Weddings church' installs cash registers

The Priory Church of St Gregory the Great (the church made famous by Four Weddings and a Funeral) has installed cash registers at its doors and is charging visitors to come in. It's the first parish church to demand a fee, seven cathedrals already do so. £4 will get you in - if you're not there for a service - or for £30 you can go as many times as you like in a year.

The church is a sanctuary in the City but it also needs a new roof. The little wooden box nailed to the wall with a slit in the top isn't working so perhaps a mandatory fee is necessary. It's a tough call. Italy faced the same situation with its places of worship in 2004.

Tourists may bring in roof-saving sterling but they also put pressure on the buildings they're meant to be rescuing. St Paul's (£9 a look) has opened secret rooms to spread the burden that browsing tourists impose, particularly those in stiletto heels.

Joanna Sugden

Comments

[Richard Halsey]

Although it is not mandatory, the parochial Bath Abbey effectively makes a charge for entry by making it quite embarassing to enter without donating the recommended offering of £2.50. It has been raising money in this way for many years, as have a few cathedrals, such as Salisbury (not, I think, one of your seven formally charging entry). Both Bath and St Bartholomew's have a great deal for visitors to see of course and so can justify charging. For the vast majority of parish churches (and the historic places of worship of the other denominations and faiths)
this is simply not an option, yet their costs are just as great. If the wider community believes it is entitled to have regular access (outside worship)to what it regards as everyone's heritage, then some means of regular public funding has to be devised - and sooner rather than later.