By Martin Wainwright, The Guardian
Six years after clubbing the night away in Leeds as a student, a young Anglican pastor is returning to her former haunts – as "pioneering minister" to the night-time economy.
Photo Credit: Diocese of Ripon & Leeds
Beth Tash, 27, is taking on hundreds of after-dark venues in the Yorkshire city as a new form of parish, as part of a scheme already serving the local business community and residents of city centre flats.
The archdeacon of Leeds, the Ven Peter Burrows, said: "If you go into Leeds on any Friday or Saturday night and see the huge number of young people coming into the city, it is obvious that the church isn't engaging with the club culture. Because of that, this is a very significant and exciting appointment."
Funded centrally by the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, Tash is being left free to sort out her best approach in nightclubs which include the appropriately named Mission.
In addition to club chilling-out rooms, the city may get a round-the-clock "sacred space".
Tash, already known to young people in Leeds as a youth pastor at St George's church, plans to spend a few months getting to know club and bar staff, before reaching out to revellers on the streets.
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