Old Kent Road to get modern new £6.2million mosque to serve expanding Muslim community

A former pub which has been converted into a mosque is being demolished to make way for a new place of worship.

The Old Kent Road Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, once the Duke of Kent pub, will give more than 1,000 Muslims a new £6.2million landmark home.

The centre was first used by a handful of Nigerians living in London but the congregation has now swelled – and also hosts a 400-pupil religious school.

The pub, built in 1919, was converted to the new use in 1993 for London’s oldest Nigerian Muslim community – but has now become a religious and social hub of the Southwark Muslim community.

Guided Video Tour footage of the old Mosque 

Members are from a cross-section of backgrounds, and use it for Islamic marriages, child-naming ceremonies and funeral services as well as its Friday evening services.

It has dedicated Islamic counselling and other community projects, including interfaith activities designed to serve as a bridge across faiths and between the grassroots and town hall officials.

It also aims to keep the typical African communal life alive in the area.

But the congregation has grown beyond the capacity of the old pub building and mosque chiefs are fundraising for a landmark new centre.

It will become a modern six-storey purpose-built mosque and centre, which will double the prayer space for men and women, expand the Islamic school and provide extra space for more community work.

The project is being constructed in three phases.

The first phase – demolition of the old structure and construction of the basement and the full framework of the new building, began in August 2021.

Of the estimated to cost £1.6 million, £1.1 million has already been raised, leaving a shortfall of £500,000.