European city church centre (7)

I believe the answer is:

essence

'centre' is the definition.

'european city church' is the wordplay.
'european city' becomes 'essen' (I've seen this before).
'church' becomes 'ce' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'essen'+'ce'='ESSENCE'

(Other definitions for essence that I've seen before include "Vital element" , "Perfume or concentrated extract" , "Perfume; core" , "Flavour, spirit" , "Distillate; gist" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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