Ards Arena Youth Centre, 60 South Street, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 4JU

Substantial former Presbyterian church of 1859, now comprehensively remodelled internally and used as a youth centre. The building is situated on the east side of South Street, to the south of Newtownards town centre.

The front west gable features a pair of central doorways with plain sheeted double doors, each set in a semicircular arch recess. The fanlights above each door are filled with timber panelling. The recesses have moulded archivolts with keystones and impost courses. Above the doorways are three tall windows with small Georgian-like panes, sharing a common cill. Above the central window is a small moulded trefoil date plaque inscribed 'Built A.D. 1859'. The doors and windows are all set within a large slightly recessed semicircular arch with moulded archivolt and keystone. To either side of this central arch is a smaller arch containing a semicircular-headed first-floor window with Georgian panes. The arched recesses are separated by plain pilasters with outer pilasters at the extremities.

The north and south facades are largely identical, each with seven segmental arch-head recesses. Each recess contains a semicircular-headed window with modern frames to the first floor and a segmental arch-head window to the ground floor. The arched recess at the west end on both facades has a small square window to the ground floor with modern frame. The central recess on the north facade contains a ground-floor doorway. The front, north and south facades are finished in lined render and painted. The rear gable has a modern extension covering much of the ground floor, linking to a large modern building to the rear. The exposed upper and left sections of the rear facade are covered in plain cement render with a ground and first-floor window to the left, matching those on the north and south facades.

A chamfered plinth runs across the building, with an eaves course above. The roof is gabled and covered in Bangor blue slates with a slight overhang to the front gable. A rendered chimney stack projects from the east gable. Cast iron rainwater goods are present. A section of original low wall with gate pillars and spear-headed wrought iron railings survives to the front.

The building was constructed in 1859 as a church for Newtownards' fourth Presbyterian congregation, which had been founded in 1854 and originally met in premises near Court Street. The building ceased to be used as a church in the mid-twentieth century, around 1950 to 1960, and was acquired by the South Eastern Education and Library Board in the 1960s. It has served as a youth centre since at least 1972. The building has undergone many major alterations and renovations since the 1960s, including the addition of a new modern section to the rear. Major renovation work was last carried out in 1994. The building does not meet the test for listing as a consequence of these internal alterations, though it remains an impressive historic building of local interest.