A Muslim businessman is erecting a massive mosque in the centre of London’s entertainment district. The three-story prayer and Islamic centre house will be built within the Trocadero, between Piccadilly Circus and Soho, by property mogul Asif Aziz, 56, known as “Mr West End,” Dailymail reports.
The 2006 closure of a Metro theatre left a three-story area empty. This area will be filled with a house of prayer with a capacity of 390 worshippers.
In 2020, plans for a 1,000-seat mosque on the property were abandoned due to opposition from locals and far-right organisations.
However, Westminster Council granted a planning proposal for a more minor development at the end of May.
The Aziz Foundation’s application to transform a portion of the London Trocadero was granted by the council’s planning committee in May 2023, a council official confirmed to The Mail on Sunday.
The mosque, which may be called “Piccadilly Prayer Space,” is anticipated to open within a few months. However, some have questioned whether it should be constructed in a neighbourhood that is home to gay bars, nightclubs, and other establishments that serve alcohol, all of which are considered sinful by Islam.
Through his charity organisation, the Aziz Foundation, Aziz, a Malawian native with a property portfolio worth over £2 billion and who purchased the Trocadero building for over £220 million in 2005, is establishing the mosque.
The Trocadero, built in 1896, is one of the most well-known entertainment facilities in the heart of London. It has an 11-story, 490-room hotel named the Zedwell.
The structure’s nearly seven decades of use as a restaurant ended in 1965.
Then, in 1984, it reopened as an exhibition hall while retaining its renowned baroque façade. In 1996, arcade-style attractions were added.
Pepsi and Sega’s sponsorship expanded the centre significantly in the late 1990s.
The first 3D IMAX theatre in the UK opened its doors at the Trocadero in 1997.
However, the investment did not increase visitor numbers, and Sega stopped sponsoring in 1999.
Segaworld was renamed Funland, and it remained known by that name until it closed in 2011.
After Pepsi withdrew from the Trocadero, Asif Aziz’s real estate firm, Criterion Capital, acquired the structure and announced plans to renovate it five years later.
The decision was granted by Westminster Council in 2012, although the Trocadero never again attained the same heights.
Plans to convert the basement into a mosque, which were initially abandoned, were ultimately presented in 2020.
According to the Aziz Foundation, the mosque will now serve local Muslims working in the area and visitors travelling to London.
At the height of the Covid lockdowns, Mr Aziz was called Britain’s “meanest landlord” after threatening West End tenants—including chains like Caffe Concerto—with winding up petitions if they did not pay their rent on time.
The businessman claimed in court in 2017 that his ex-wife was not entitled to his estimated £1.1 billion fortune because they had forged a marriage licence in Malawi to bring an adopted child to the UK.
Shortly later, the couple reached an out-of-court settlement.
