Next month’s closure of Fairfield Halls has angered many culture-lovers in Croydon, with some doomsayers even predicting the death of the arts in the borough.

But one orchestra company is trying to see the positive side of life after the theatre complex.

When the ageing venue closes on July 15 ahead of a £30m redevelopment, the London Mozart Players (LMP) will relocate their offices to the St John the Evangelist church in Upper Norwood, with the promise to “fully integrate into the heart of the Croydon community”.

The company’s executive director, Julia Desbruslais, said: “By planting the orchestra in the very heart of the community it opens up the potential to develop a new audience, a concert series, educational and community projects and a real vision for the orchestra moving forward.”

RELATED: Top conductor Sir Simon Rattle: 'No significant reason' Fairfield Halls cannot have phased closure

St John’s boasts a parish of more than 14,000 people and a “history steeped in music,” the company said yesterday.

In 2011 the Grade II-listed church was used as a broadcast venue for BBC Radio 3’s Classical Evensong.

Despite promising to remain “heavily involved and continue our relationship” with Fairfield Halls when the venue reopens after a predicted two-year refit, LMP’s marketing manager Cat Fuller said the move was an opportunity to “integrate with the north of the borough, that culturally not a lot of people are doing at the moment.”

The LMP, the UK’s longest running chamber orchestra, first took residency at Fairfield Halls in 1989.

As part of the move the company hopes to expand its 25-year-old “LMP Voyager” programme, which aims to expand access to classical music in schools and communities.

Ms Desbruslais said: “While regeneration projects take place in the centre of Croydon we will be engaging in efforts that will further develop our ties with communities across the Croydon borough, tapping into new areas and securing our place at the centre of all things cultural when the Fairfield re-opens.”

Father John Pritchard of St John the Evangelist welcomed the move.

He said: “We are a community crammed with artists and musicians; so, it is of immense delight to welcome into St John’s, the London Mozart Players.

“This joint venture, of St John’s providing a home for the LMP, and the LMP becoming a community centred and located orchestra means that for both of us, life will never be quite the same.”

Got a story? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6388 or email daniel.omahony@newsquest.co.uk