A HISTORIC church building in Nottingham has been taken over by a modern-day Christian group which operates in several major British cities.

El Shaddai International Christian Centre, a multi-cultural church which already has churches across the UK, Africa and America, has moved into the city centre in a deal secured by Lambert Smith Hampton.

It is the third property deal in the city involving Christian groups in recent times.

Cornerstone Church, an evangelical Christian Church, has bought the former MFI site at the end of Castle Boulevard in a £2.75m deal. It is currently in the process of constructing a new building.

At the same time, Grace Church, a charismatic Christian church, bought the former JobCentre at Castle Boulevard on the corner of Wilford Lane.

El Shaddai – which takes its name form a Judaic word for God – already has churches in London, Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Sheffield.

In Nottingham, it has taken a lease on the former Congregational Church building on Castle Gate, a Grade II Listed building which dates back to 1863.

The Church is still owned by the Nottingham Congregational Federation.

The federation has some 280 affiliated churches, and brings together independent free churches for mutual support and the advancement of the Christian faith.

The grade II listed building has been used as a church as well as for meetings and community events.

The Congregational Federation now occupies an adjoining building.

At one stage there were suggestions the building might be suitable for retail use, but it now joins a list of properties being brought back into use for religious purposes.

The 13,000 sq ft church has been let on a five-year term in a deal secured by Alex Nix, of Lambert Smith Hampton in Nottingham.

He said: “This property is a distinctive and well-known building in the centre of the city and I am pleased that it will continue to have the use for which it was originally built.”