Nucleus building to be sold following Rochester fire
Town loses another arts space, Grain catches fire, expensive parking charges, and the Odeon’s smallest customers return
The building best known as the home of Café Nucleus is going up for sale after remaining closed since a fire in April, raising questions about the future of both the restaurant and Nucleus Arts in Rochester. We look at what has happened to the Grade II-listed former Conservancy Building, why its history makes the latest sale particularly interesting, and what its loss could mean for a town that has already seen several permanent arts spaces disappear.
Nucleus building to be sold following Rochester fire
The Rochester building occupied principally by Café Nucleus is to be sold after a fire left it closed for more than three months.
The Halpern Conservancy Building has been shut since a fire in its kitchen on 30 April. The Halpern Charitable Foundation, which owns the Grade II-listed property, says it will place it on the market once necessary restoration work has been completed.
For most visitors, the building was Café Nucleus. The café and restaurant occupied the majority of the property and had become one of the better places to eat in Rochester, drawing customers to that end of the High Street independently of the arts activity elsewhere in the building.
Café Nucleus operates from the building as a tenant and the foundation’s announcement does not say what, if any, arrangements are being made for it.
The property was also the permanent Rochester base of Nucleus Arts. Alongside the restaurant were artists’ studios, the Lightbox digital classroom and the Halpern Pop, a small gallery used for temporary exhibitions.
Artists working from the building have been displaced, while exhibitions booked for the gallery have been affected. Nucleus Arts staff have also been unable to use the property.
Some activities have moved elsewhere. Digital Teen Art and Digital Art sessions are now being held at the Nucleus Arts Centre in Chatham. The Medway Art Box, housed in the former telephone box beside the Conservancy Building, remains open because it sits outside the property.
The foundation has not given a timetable for the restoration work or sale. It has also not announced whether Nucleus Arts will seek another permanent base in Rochester.
The Halpern Pop was modest in size, but its closure matters when placed alongside the gradual disappearance of other dedicated places to see and buy art in the town.
Nucleus Arts previously operated a shop and gallery on the High Street before concentrating its Rochester activity at the Conservancy Building. Francis Iles closed its physical gallery and shop in 2023, after more than 60 years in business.
Medway Council has since closed Rochester Art Gallery. The gallery shared Eastgate House with the town’s Visitor Information Centre, which the council shut in response to its difficult financial position. Closing the information centre meant the gallery closed with it.
Rochester still has artists, temporary exhibitions and places selling local work. What it has less of is permanent space devoted to exhibiting it.
The history of the Conservancy Building gives the latest sale additional significance.
The property was completed in 1909 as the headquarters of the Medway Conservancy Board, which oversaw navigation on the river. Designed by George Edward Bond, it includes a large bowed window which originally lit the boardroom and a brick tower at the rear.
It later became part of the neighbouring Guildhall Museum. The building held exhibitions, educational facilities and parts of the council’s collection until Medway Council declared it surplus to requirements in 2018.
That decision was controversial. An online petition opposing the sale attracted hundreds of signatures, while objections were raised by the Friends of the Guildhall Museums and the City of Rochester Society.
The Friends told a council scrutiny meeting that more than 7,000 people visited the Conservancy section of the museum each year. It described the building as an important cultural hub and said it contained the museum’s only step-free accessible learning space, which was used by community groups.
Opponents argued that the sale was taking place without a wider plan for Rochester’s cultural and heritage buildings. They also questioned what would happen once the money raised by disposing of the property had been spent.
Council officers said the museum collections were more important than the particular building in which they were displayed and could be moved elsewhere. They argued that selling the property would release money for work at the Corn Exchange and the remainder of the Guildhall Museum.
Officers also said its listed status would protect the building. That protection applied to its historic fabric rather than continued public access.
An attempt to send the decision back to the council’s Cabinet was defeated, and the sale went ahead.
Under the Halpern Charitable Foundation, the building returned to public use in a different form. Most of it became Café Nucleus, with the small gallery, studios and digital teaching space operating alongside the restaurant.
That combination gave the arts activity a visibility it might not otherwise have had. Most customers came through the doors to eat or drink, but the same building provided somewhere for artists to work, exhibit and hold classes.
The prospective sale consequently has two distinct effects. Rochester has lost a substantial independent restaurant, while Nucleus Arts is losing the collection of smaller spaces which made up its permanent presence in the town.
The immediate circumstances are different from those surrounding the council’s decision in 2018. The current closure followed a fire, and the property is now owned by an independent charity. There is no indication yet of who might buy it or how it could be used.
The result is nevertheless familiar. A prominent Rochester building used by the public is being sold, while the town is left with one fewer permanent home for its artists.
Catch Up
From politics to football to one particularly unpleasant smell, this week took us in some unexpected directions. If you missed any of these stories, they're well worth catching up on.
First, the football. Gillingham have rebuilt heavily after last season’s cull, bringing in a string of new faces ahead of the new campaign. But our Gills columnist Ben Hopkins still has questions, particularly about where the goals are coming from, whether the squad has enough experience and why one of the new kits makes him look like a tube of toothpaste.
Ben Hopkins
Then there is Vince Maple, who would like you to know that he is technically unemployed and, by his own assessment, “quite boring.” Part two of our interview with Medway Council’s leader gets into his record in office, voter turnout, brown envelopes, conspiracy theories, Chatham High Street and what happens as Medway Council enters its final stretch.
Steven Keevil
And finally, we tackled the question that seemed to dominate Medway this week: why does it smell like crap? We investigated the annual mystery pong, why it appears at roughly the same time every summer and why the answer is rather more agricultural than apocalyptic.
Ed Jennings
In brief
🚒 Ten fire engines are currently fighting a wildfire on the Isle of Grain, with nearby residents asked to keep their windows and doors closed.
🧑🚒 So it was probably for the best that Kent Fire Authority blocked the proposed closure of Cliffe fire station among others across Kent this week.
🏥 Staff at Medway Maritime Hospital are not in love with the idea of paying £15 per day to park.
🚑 Medway is also set to receive a new mental health unit that staff won't be able to afford to park at.
🐁 There are once again mice in the Odeon.
🚧 The main bridge on and off St Mary's Island will be closed 24-28 August. Fortunately (or unfortunately), residents won't be trapped as there's now a second bridge by the marina.
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Wednesday: Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss adoptions, fostering, and changes to ADHD and autism assessments.
- Thursday: Regeneration, Culture and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss the Wigmore traveller site, nuisance vehicles, the budget, and more.
New planning applications:
- Screening opinion for 1,300 home mixed-use development south of Halling.
- New signage for Asda in Chatham.
Property of the week
If you've ever sat in Cafenetics on Chatham High Street and wondered what on earth was upstairs, here's your answer. The café itself is included in the £750,000 asking price, along with what is effectively an entire building behind and above it, with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a self-contained annex and around 4,500 sq ft of space. It's less a house than a sizeable slice of Chatham High Street, offering the chance to own both a local business and the maze of rooms hidden beyond its shopfront.
Events this week
🎉 Sat 8 Aug - Medway Culture Club Carnival // Family fun day celebrating diversity in our community. Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham. Free.
🎸 Sat 8 Aug - Little Storping in the Swuff present Hassle Olympics // Acclaimed Medway band plays show to mark release of second album. Medway Little Theatre, Rochester. Tickets £10.
🎸 Sat 8 Aug - KimboFest // Day of music in aid of the Alzheimer's Society headlined by the Pastel Waves. Poco Loco, Chatham. Recommended donation £5.
🎸 Tue 11 Aug - Hurry + US Highball // Philadelphia indie band supported by Scottish indie folkers. Oast Community Centre, Rainham. Tickets £10.
Footnotes
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