---
title: "Bethel Evangelical Free Church, Hanley"
description: "Located in Hanley, Staffordshire. Built 1977 (present chapel); Hope Chapel on the site opened 1812. 1970s Modernism style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Congregational Church","Staffordshire","Hanley","Stoke-on-Trent","Modernism"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/hanley-bethel-evangelical-free-church"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:47:05.268Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-09T12:30:56.615Z"
location: "Hanley, Staffordshire"
country: "England"
county: "Staffordshire"
town: "Hanley"
address: "Newhall Street, Hanley, Staffordshire, ST1 6EQ"
postcode: "ST1 6EQ"
built: "1977 (present chapel); Hope Chapel on the site opened 1812"
denomination: "Congregational Church"
style: "1970s Modernism"
website: "https://bethelhanley.com/"
openingHours: "The bookshop is usually open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturdhay, between 10am and 4.30pm. There is a coffee morning on Saturday 10am to 1pm."
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout"
---

# Bethel Evangelical Free Church, Hanley

Bethel Evangelical Free Church is an Independent/Congregational chapel on the corner of Newhall Street and Hope Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, occupying a site used for worship since 1812.

## Overview

Local history compiled on The Potteries website, drawing on the Victoria County History of Staffordshire, records that a group left the Tabernacle Congregational Church in Hanley in 1810 and opened Hope Independent Chapel on 7 October 1812, with the Revd William Roby of Manchester presiding. The first chapel was a two-storey red-brick building with stone dressings, Tuscan-flanked doorways and a pediment later inscribed “1812 Hope Congregational Church 1891”. A schoolroom was added behind in 1835. After decline, the building was used from the 1930s as Hanley Bethel Temple under the evangelist Edward Jeffreys, and from 1953 as Bethel Evangelical Free Church.

In 1975 excavations for an adjoining Tesco underground car park undermined the foundations, and the 1812 chapel was demolished. The present building opened in 1977. The congregation describes it as a relatively unaltered example of 1970s Modernism, built with an attached bookshop that remains in use. The church is not listed.

## Further Information

- [The Potteries: Bethel Evangelical Free Church, Hanley](https://www.thepotteries.org/church/hanley/bethel.htm)
- [Victoria County History: Stoke-on-Trent Protestant Nonconformity](https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol8/pp276-307)
- [Bethel Evangelical Free Church](https://bethelhanley.com/)