This is YOUR Community Hall!
Portobello Community Hall is a local community facility for all of the residents of the St Kevin’s Parish/Ward area, regardless of age, colour or creed. Whether you have lived in this area all of your life, or have just moved into the neighbourhood; You are very welcome!
We welcome your interest and participation in the maintenance and running of our centre. Everyone is welcome to organise and take part in its activities. We hope to make this hall the focal point of our community.
In recent times the hall has suffered from lack of use during the COVID-19 pandemic and further maintenance work currently needs to be done to maintain the integrity of the building. A new Committee was formed in March 2024 to revitalise the running of the Hall, and its members voted to change the name from St. Kevin’s Community Centre to Portobello Community Hall. Through the development of a new website and social media presence, the committee aims to enhance the Hall’s profile and welcome all of the community to use our space on Bloomfield Avenue.
We look forward to a bright and invigorating future for Portobello Community Hall.
We want to create a community hall that is as vibrant as the community it serves
Portobello is a diverse, creative and energetic community, welcoming to people of all ages and creeds.
We embrace the future while carefully nurturing our roots.
We have a shared space that can be the central hub of our community.
Our ambition is to once again open the doors to the space on Bloomfield Avenue so that it becomes as vibrant and inclusive as the community it serves.
Originally built as the Church Hall of St Kevin’s Church of Ireland.
St Kevin’s Community Council was formed.
The Hall was bought by St Kevin’s Community Council.
After majjor renovations, the Hall opened its doors to the community.
A new committee is elected and the Hall reopens its doors after COVID-19.
The Hall will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the building and 30 years since opening to the community.
Portobello Community Hall was originally St Kevin’s Church of Ireland Church Hall. The Hall was built circa 1900 in an English Gothic style by Architects Carroll and Batchelor, who were best known for their work on Victorian era hospitals as in the nearby Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and others. It was built adjacent to St Kevin’s Church of Ireland Church which had been designed by Sir Andrew Drew, and built from a bequest by the late Jane Shannon of Rathgar in 1883. It was built on the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and the South Circular Rd on the location of the Royal Portobello Gardens of the Westfield Estate.
The last known use of it by the Church of Ireland, had been as a meeting place for the local Boys Brigade. The St Kevin’s Church of Ireland Church and Hall were sold due to a dwindling Church of Ireland population in the area and in 1994 the church was developed into residential apartments and the Church Hall was bought by St Kevin’s Community Council in 1993 from Lomax Tiles, who had secured the property but were unable to gain planning permission for its conversion into a Tile shop.
St Kevin’s Community Council was formed initially in 1972 to serve the neighbourhood of St Kevin’s Parish/Ward and address the concerns and needs of the local residents. The Council was originally based in St Kevin’s National School, in Grantham Street and had for many years, the objective of having a permanent home in the establishment of a Community Centre. In 1991 the Executive Council formed a company with a new constitution with limited liability so that individuals were protected from large claims damages. It amassed over a period of twenty one years, the considerable amount of £50,000 towards this objective, through ongoing fundraising.
When St Kevin’s Church of Ireland Parish Hall came on the market in March 1993, the Council was in a position to buy the Hall for £103,000, through an additional loan of £55,000 from the AIB and the purchase was completed in 1994.
The St Kevin’s Community Centre officially opened to the general public on the 11th Sept 1995 after considerable renovations and repairs, as it had been left idle for the previous 15 years and had been in a derelict state.
To fund both the loan repayments (a further refurbishment loan of £10,000 was obtained in 1995 from AIB) and the full refurbishment of the Hall, which was estimated at the time, to be in the region of £100,000, the St Kevin’s Community Council sought and received state grants and embarked on local fundraising.
In terms of grants, in 1993 a £10.000 grant was received from the Department of Social Protection, and in 1995 a Recreational Facilities Grant of £15,000 was received in addition to a once off state grant of £25,000 and In 2004 a small repairs grant of £10,000 was received, amounting to circa £60,000 in total over those initial years. The balance had to be raised through fundraising, as a mortgage of £600 a month needed to be repaid over a 10 year period and repairs and renovations undertaken to allow the Hall to open to the public. To this end a number of fundraising initiatives were set up:
St Kevins Community Council was approved as a sponsor under the Students Summer Jobs Scheme and this allowed the Council to employ two students to concentrate on fundraising.
In recent times Portobello Community Hall has suffered from lack of use during the Covid years and further maintenance work currently needs to be done to maintain the integrity of the building. A New Committee was formed in March 2024 to revitalise the running of the Centre and it was renamed Portobello Community Hall. Through the development of a new website and social media presence, the committee aims to enhance the Hall’s profile and community involvement.
Two new fundraising initiatives are planned i.e. an ongoing promotional lottery through www.ourfundraiser.ie. and a Community StoryTelling event. In addition to fundraising, the facilities are available for commercial rent. Both these streams of capital are needed to provide funds to facilitate community and not-for-profit group events and to cover ongoing overheads and refurbishment/repair costs and upgrades that need to be addressed. Accessibility is one of those upgrades that needs to happen to make the Community Hall accessible for all.
Next year 2025, marks the 125th Anniversary of the St Kevin’s Church of Ireland Parish Hall Building itself and the 11th of Sept 2025 will mark the 30th Anniversary of the establishment of Portobello Community Hall (formerly known as St Kevin’s Community Centre) as a resource for the St Kevin’s Parish/Ward community.