Stafford Pride raises concerns of homophobic church’s plans for cinema

Stafford Pride have issued a statement raising their concerns regarding the Redeemed Christian Church of God's planned works on the old Apollo Cinema of Newport Road. The Pride organisation hold concerns specifically of the church’s homophobic and anti-LGBTQ+ agenda being perpetuated in their town.

The statement explains: “The RCCG have a disturbingly specific homophobic and anti-LGBTQ+ agenda and set of belief of which we stand steadfast against.

“As a town, Stafford is very open, loving and welcoming, we saw this in August at the first Stafford Pride; this is the town we must continue to be.

Whilst we welcome empty building being reused, we believe it is only right to send a message to the RCCG as the join the community of Stafford to say simply; we will not accept homophobia in this town.”

The Apollo cinema on Newport Road, Stafford was built in 1936 and first opened as the Odeon Cinema. It operated as The Apollo Cinema from 1988 to 2017 (although in 2014, it was renamed Stafford Cinema). The cinema was put up for auction in 2022, and original plans to transform the building into a music venue failed.

A change of use application was submitted by the Redeemed Christian Church of God for a place or worship (Ref. No: 24/39793/COU) to Stafford Borough Council in October 2024, which as of February 2025 was given the status ‘Application Permitted’ by the council. Nigeria-based pastor and televangelist, Enoch Adeboye, is the head the ministry which claims in its Sunday School teaching materials that “Homosexuality is a sin and like any other sin, it needs to be dealt with in the only way possible. It needs to be laid at the cross and repented of.”

It is not the first time that concerns have been raised regarding the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s views. In 2021, Leader of the Labour party, Keir Starmer was forced to apologise after visiting Jesus House for All The Nations church in Brent, north London, without knowing about their anti-LGBTQ+ views as “research had mistakenly not been carried out in advance of the visit". The LGBT+ Labour group called the visit unacceptable, calling for the apology. After Keir apologised for the mistake, the group tweeted in response: “We are pleased that you have recognised and apologised for this mistake. We look forward to working with you to end conversion therapy and achieve equality for LGBT+ people."