Mosque may be built in London’s Trocadero entertainment complex

We thought we had seen this one off; but like the head of the hydra, you cut one off and another appears. Money talks, and when the Mayor of London is a Muslim, he listens. From the Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday.

A large mosque funded by a Muslim billionaire is set to be built inside the Trocadero entertainment complex, in the centre of London’s West End.

Asif Aziz, 56, a London-based billionaire entrepreneur and the founder and Chief Executive of property company Criterion Capital, will oversee the building of a three-storey Islamic centre between Soho and Piccadilly Circus, the Daily Mail reported.

It will occupy the space that previously belonged to a Metro cinema, which shut in 2006, within the Trocadero, which was purchased in May 2005 by Mr Aziz. The new house of prayer is expected to have a capacity of 390 worshippers.

Previous bids to build a mosque with capacity for 1,000 people were pulled in 2020 following complaints from residents and a backlash from far-right groups. As the comments say, any group not well on the left is sneered at as ‘far right’. It wasn’t only Britain First who objected. 

However, Westminster City Council greenlit a planning application for a smaller development at the end of May this year.

A council spokesperson confirmed to 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.’

It is thought that the mosque – which may be called ‘Piccadilly Prayer Space’ – could be open within months. But critics 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.

Built in 1896, the Trocadero is one of central London’s most famous entertainment complexes . . . The building closed in 1965, ending its nearly seven-decade life as a restaurant. It then reopened as an exhibition space in 1984, keeping its famed baroque façade, before arcade-style attractions were added in 1996. The parade of ramadan lights in London in April started just by the Trocadero before continuing up Coventry Street.  Coincidence? I think not. 

In 2020, plans were finally submitted to turn the basement into a mosque, which were withdrawn the first time around.  Now, the Aziz Foundation said the mosque will serve Muslims who work in the area, as well as those visiting London as tourists. The West End contains a small number of Mosques, including the Islamic Centre in Soho.

Mr Aziz was described as Britain’s ‘meanest landlord’ at the height of the Covid lockdowns after threatening West End tenants, including chains like Caffe Concerto, with winding-up petitions if they did not pay their rent on time.