Three years ago the Battersea Arts Centre was hit with a devastating blow as its grand hall burned to the ground.

Now the day everyone has been waiting for is finally here, as tomorrow (July 13) the hall will be re-opened for a sneak peak of the nearly finished product.

But when the BAC's artistic director and CEO David Jubb realised US president Donald Trump's visit to the UK would coincide with the opening he decided to use the momentous occasion to send a message.

“We had always planned a photo with members of our community, celebrating our values," he said.

"When we heard that president Trump was visiting we looked at our values and realised how much they are at odds with many of the values which president Trump’s leadership represents to us."

So together they got, from tea dancers who regularly use arts centre for classes, to Freddie and Amy who will get married in the renewed grand hall and "represent the thousands of brides and grooms who have been married in the grand hall over the decades."

"We believe in building bridges across communities to bring people together. We believe in the power of love to make positive change.

"We believe in the central and powerful role of women to make the world a better place. We believe that art is a force for good and that everyone is creative.

"So as we kick off the countdown to our reopening, and the ‘leader of the free world’ visits the UK, we simply want to restate some of the values and ideals we think bring communities together - which unite us rather than divide us.

"It’s in that spirit we address our photo as an open letter to resident Trump about the positive values he will find in Battersea.”

The 'open house’ event will take place from 6pm to 7:30pm with the countdown now on for the official reopening on Thursday, September 6.