Situated near London’s most well-known nightclubs, pubs, gay bars, and strip joints, part of the iconic Trocadero building is set to be turned into a mosque. Muslim billionaire and property tycoon Asif Aziz, known as ‘Mr. West End,’ has won approval for his plan from Westminster Council.
Similar proposals for a larger Muslim worship area in the building were rejected at the turn of the decade following a backlash. But the latest plan, for a mosque with a capacity of 390 worshipers, has been given the green light.
A spokesman from the Labour party-led Westminster Council told The Mail on Sunday:
A planning application by the Aziz Foundation to convert a part of the London Trocadero was approved by the council’s planning committee in May 2023.
Trocadero was built at the end of the nineteenth century and has been celebrated as one of London’s best-known entertainment complexes. Mr. Aziz, who owns around 40 properties in the capital, purchased this building in 2005. The prayer area will be funded by his charity, the Aziz Foundation, and is expected to be open within months.
Critics, according to the Daily Mail, “have questioned whether it should be built in an area filled with alcohol-serving bars, nightclubs, and Soho’s gay venues and strip joints—all of which are shunned by Islam as sinful.”
More spaces in the capital are being transformed in this way as Muslims now make up around 15% of the city’s population, up from 12.6% in 2011. As is seen across much of the country (particularly in other cities, like Birmingham), different population groups are largely detached from one another, rather than integrated. A 2018 paper in Contemporary Islam argued that “religious institutions have carved up the physical and social landscape of North London in ways that have enduring effects on the communities with which they engage.”
In this case, regulars of Soho’s gay and drinking scene appear fearful that its proximity to a new Muslim prayer centre could prompt tensions. Already, a third of Britons believe that Islam threatens the British way of life, according to a report cited here in The Guardian.
Mr. Aziz’s foundation has, however, hit out against opposition to the proposals, insisting that the story has been surrounded by “misleading” reports. The foundation has criticised “the outpouring of hatred online and in social media posts,” adding:
Situated in [a] vacant space in the basement of the Trocadero, the Centre will provide an indispensable place for the Muslims who work, visit and live in the area and for whom prayer forms a cornerstone of their life. While the Centre will provide an area for prayer, it is also anticipated that this development will nurture much needed interfaith dialogue and in turn bring faith communities and community groups together utilising available space.