Medieval hospital becomes youth space in £8.5m plan

A recently renovated medieval hospital in Kent is set to be opened to the public and turned into a youth centre.

Canterbury's Poor Priests' Hospital in Stour Street will become the home of The Hive, a creative centre which will include a café and spaces for public hire.

The project, run by the Marlowe Theatre, will be part-funded by £4.4m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and follows a £1.6m renovation to the facade of the 12th Century building, which finished in June 2025.

Marlowe Theatre chief executive Deborah Shaw said: "The Poor Priests' Hospital project has been nearly a decade in the making and we're thrilled that this award means we can now bring it fully to life."

She added: "This is an extraordinary medieval building with remarkable stories embedded in its walls, and we're looking forward to restoring and re-presenting those spaces with commissioned artworks and interpretation that help people connect with the building's past in imaginative ways."

As part of the project, the building will close later this year with the aim of reopening in 2029.

A spokesperson for the theatre said the £8.5m project would also restore medieval elements of the building.

The project will allow The Marlowe to expand its youth theatre work to about 16,000 more students a year.

It will also become the home of the Marlowe's Writer's Room, and will also feature a dedicated space for the Cygnet School, a dance programme for young people run by choreographer Matthew Bourne.

The Marlowe is now seeking to raise £2.2m in further investment to fully fund the project.

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