India Club saved from demolition
LONDON :A quaint club in central London which reflects England of the 1940s and 1950s and was the venue for meetings of V Krishna Menon’s India League has been saved from demolition after the Westminster City Council on Tuesday refused the owner permission to redevelop the site.
Thousands of people had signed an online petition as part of a campaign in the UK, supported by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, among others, to save the India Club in the Strand, located close to the Indian high commission.
Councillor Tony Devenish, chairman of the council’s planning applications sub-committee, said: “Westminster Council refused permission for the redevelopment of 143-145 Strand due the potential loss of an important cultural venue located on its site, the India Club.
“The India Club has a special place in the history of our Indian community and it is right that we protect it from demolition.”
A council document setting out the refusal to redevelop the building said: “The restaurant/ bar is known as the India Club, which has strong associations with the expat Indian community dating back to 1951 and is considered to be of significant cultural importance.”
The council’s decision came three months after the club’s historicity and its links with India’s independence movement was questioned by Historic England, a public body that champions England’s historic environment.
Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten were some of the founders of the India Club.