Case Study: St Mary's London
HOW WE GREW VENUE HIRE INCOME 500%
St Mary’s is a Grade I listed Charismatic Anglican church in the heart of London’s Marylebone, which underwent a full venue transformation.
With Charlotte’s support, St Mary’s grew its venue hire income from £80,000 to over £500,000, enabling the church to invest more deeply in its mission, expand charitable projects, and maintain its historic building.
Venue Transformation
ST MARY’S LONDON
In 2002, St Mary’s underwent a major renovation to preserve its historic character, adding a new lower floor and expanded facilities. Venue hire began in 2004 but remained underutilised for several years.
When Charlotte, founder of Connective Vision, was appointed, the space was booked just two to three times per month. Through a focused venue transformation and targeted income generation strategy, usage grew to eight to twelve events per month, resulting in a 500% increase in revenue.
Today, St Mary’s operates as a thriving events venue, demonstrating how strategic leadership, operational improvements, and effective positioning can revitalise a historic space and secure sustainable financial growth.
“The received wisdom had always been that buildings like ours could only expect to receive £70,000-£80,000 income per annum. Charlotte’s amazing impact has helped us make over half a million pounds each year from our property.
Charlotte possesses an incredible gift for recognising potential, gently pushing boundaries and innovation. She worked with us at our own pace. She created helpful and effective solutions that met high standards. Not only were they compatible with how we operate as a church but have enabled us to do more than we thought was possible.”
Reverend John Peters
Designed by Robert Smirke, St Mary’s offers over 780sqm of open-plan space across two floors, with excellent transport links nearby. Despite its potential, the venue was underutilised and in need of strategic investment and creative repositioning.
Then and now
Venue Transformation
The Great Hall 2022
The Great Hall 2017
We refreshed the space with improved lighting, reconfigured layouts, and updated branding to create a versatile, elegant space capable of hosting a wider range of high-value events.
Lower Floor 2022
Lower Floor 2017
The Lower Floor was transformed from a purely functional area into a brighter, more adaptable environment, better suited for receptions, workshops, and food halls.
Meeting Place 2022
Meeting Place 2017
We redesigned the area to offer a welcoming, professional setting for small meetings and breakout events, strengthening the venue’s appeal to corporate and community users.
Generating Income
Taking St Mary’s
to The Next Level
The Challenges
Preconceptions
Preconceived notions regarding “church hall hire”
Resources
Limited human and financial resources
Marketing
Inadequate and insufficient marketing
Building Management
Disrepair in the building
Systems
Absence of efficient and professional processes
The Solutions
A phased, multi-pronged approach was implemented to reposition St Mary’s for sustainable venue hire growth.
This included reshaping the brand identity, strengthening the sales pipeline, updating the pricing structure, and improving overall performance. A cohesive narrative was developed to reflect St Mary’s values, charitable impact, and heritage, supported by visual upgrades to better showcase the venue. Client testimonials were gathered to build trust, and operational processes were streamlined to improve efficiency. Together, these changes created the foundation for long-term income generation and mission-aligned growth.
The Results
The results demonstrate the success of the venue transformation and income generation strategy. While the reach and volume of enquiries expanded significantly, an important shift was observed: previously, non-conversions were often due to event suitability; now, the limited availability of the calendar, which was now nearly fully booked, became the main constraint.
This transition marked a positive repositioning toward higher-value clients, even though operational priorities capped total bookings. In venues with greater availability, similar strategies would likely drive even higher enquiry and revenue growth.
%
Average YOY Growth
%
Total Revenue Growth
%
Reach Increase
%
Enquiry Increase
Charlotte is excellent to work with and brings a brilliant blend of experience, knowledge, sales expertise, creativity and problem solving to what she does. She enacted a strategy that led to consistent growth year on year and resulted in a fivefold increase in our venue revenue.
Sally Watson, Director of Operations, St Mary’s London
Key Steps
Transforming St Mary’s
Venue Hire Strategy
1. Creating a Brand Identity
To create a stronger sense of value and appeal, the first priority was to establish a clear brand identity. As the earlier images show, the existing décor and visuals did not reflect the venue’s potential or create a strong first impression.
Thorough research shaped a cohesive narrative that highlighted St Mary’s values, charitable impact, and heritage. The venue was repositioned from basic church hall hire to a high-quality, standalone event space, with the new identity reinforced across marketing channels and social platforms.
2. Building a Strong First Impressions
Much of the existing imagery was low-quality and outdated, failing to reflect the venue’s potential. A focused effort was made to develop new photography, visuals, and marketing assets — including brochures — that aligned with the refreshed brand narrative. It was essential that these images showcased St Mary’s ability to host the types of events and clients it was now targeting.
To support this repositioning, the team gradually invested in building upgrades. While some improvements were simple and affordable, others required significant time and resources.
Key investments included:
-
Installing a curtain on the stage to create a more flexible and neutral backdrop.
-
Restoring the damaged angel painting above the stage.
-
Redecorating the Undercroft to modernise the space.
-
Replacing the blue carpet in the Great Hall and adding rugs to soften key areas.
-
Introducing plants to create a more welcoming environment.
-
Upgrading lighting to enhance the atmosphere and presentation of events.
Client testimonials were also collected alongside new imagery to build credibility and strengthen trust with prospective clients.
1. Creating a Brand Identity
To create a stronger sense of value and appeal, the first priority was to establish a clear brand identity. As the earlier images show, the existing décor and visuals did not reflect the venue’s potential or create a strong first impression.
Thorough research shaped a cohesive narrative that highlighted St Mary’s values, charitable impact, and heritage. The venue was repositioned from basic church hall hire to a high-quality, standalone event space, with the new identity reinforced across marketing channels and social platforms.
2. Building a Strong First Impressions
Much of the existing imagery was low-quality and outdated, failing to reflect the venue’s potential. A focused effort was made to develop new photography, visuals, and marketing assets — including brochures — that aligned with the refreshed brand narrative. It was essential that these images showcased St Mary’s ability to host the types of events and clients it was now targeting.
To support this repositioning, the team gradually invested in building upgrades. While some improvements were simple and affordable, others required significant time and resources.
Key investments included:
-
Installing a curtain on the stage to create a more flexible and neutral backdrop.
-
Restoring the damaged angel painting above the stage.
-
Redecorating the Undercroft to modernise the space.
-
Replacing the blue carpet in the Great Hall and adding rugs to soften key areas.
-
Introducing plants to create a more welcoming environment.
-
Upgrading lighting to enhance the atmosphere and presentation of events.
Client testimonials were also collected alongside new imagery to build credibility and strengthen trust with prospective clients.
3. Improving The Customer journey
To optimise the sales pipeline, a CRM system was introduced to manage enquiries and track progress, while site visits and the sales process were streamlined through the use of webhooks, automation and templates. These measures collectively improved efficiency.
Additional services, such as third-party catering and AV support, were added to improve the customer experience and simplify planning for the client.
4. changing the culture
A major cultural shift was needed to enable change. This involved reshaping perceptions and operational practices among the key stakeholders, including church staff and venue teams.
By creating a clear plan, maintaining regular comms, and providing ongoing support and training, the team successfully embedded a new culture at St Mary’s that strengthened long-term performance and supported income generation.
5. A New Pricing Structure
A new pricing structure was introduced, reflecting an increase of over 100% to better align with the value of the space and services offered. This shift improved margins on each booking and repositioned St Mary’s competitively within the market.
To maintain sustainability, an annual pricing review was also implemented, ensuring future adjustments kept pace with inflation and running costs.
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