A CHURCH pew in the middle of Wood Street made for an unusual sight yesterday.

The 19th century pew was sourced from Christ Church and purchased by Matt Greenwood, owner of Desk Cowork in Devizes Road.

And instead of a standard removal van, he decided to jazz up the journey by enlisting the help of three volunteers to carry the £100 pew up the hill to his office.

His brother Brandon Greenwood, Ben Lawton and Melanie Herpels were the willing helpers

During the move the team called in at various stores in Wood Street, getting a massage from Jan Wojtowicz, owner of Wood Street Wellbeing, to help them cope with the stresses and strains of moving the 100kg pew, have pizza delivered to the pew and enjoy a coffee from Balula’s.

They also made way for four well-dressed pooches from Bella JoJo’s, who relaxed on the gigantic wooden seat.

Matt, 22, who lives in Kent Road, said he was excited about the prospect of having the pew in the office.

“I am really excited about having the pew. It will be used for chilling out on and it is something different for people to see when they come in. All of our furniture is reclaimed wood so it will fit in perfectly with everything else," he said.

“We’ve worked well as a team and it hasn’t been any trouble lifting it so far. It really hurts the hands though but it’s been a really fun day so we’re not too bothered.”

Christ Church in Old Town is currently closed while a £300,000 project to improve heating is carried out and some pews are being removed as part of the scheme.

Church warden Daniel Pitt said: “The pews are solid oak, the original ones put in when the church was built in 1851.”

Caroline Pitt, who chairs the Friends of Christ Church, Swindon, said: “Some people were against us removing pews but everyone was agreed that we need heating in the church.

“We could have sold any number of the smaller pews but we still have one larger one left.”

The team had to navigate a tricky flight of steps to get the pew to its final destination.

Desk provides a workspace for entrepreneurs and freelancers to build their businesses and benefit from access to guest mentors.