India Club, London
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Rise, and likely fall
Naomi Canton, Historic India Club in London may come down, October 5, 2017: The Times of India
Courtesy Time Out
One-time haunt of Indian nationalist leaders may become history if remodelling plans go through
A crucial piece of British-Indian heritage could be obliterated if plans to refurbish a club where figures in India's independence movement gathered go through.
Marston Properties, a property management company , has submitted plans to partially demolish and remodel the eight-storey Edwardian building, which houses the India Club on London's Strand, to make way for a 30-bedroom modern hotel. The firm has free hold rights over the building.
The India Club first opened in 1946 and was a hub for Indian nationalists, intellectuals and politicians pre-Independence. Established by V K Krishna Menon, India's first high commissioner to the UK, it served as a meeting venue of the India League, a British organisation which campaigned for Indian independence. The league evolved from the Commonwealth of India League and Annie Besant's Home Rule for India League.The club's founding members included Lady Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Post-Independence, it became a private members' club to bring a better understanding between India and the UK. Visitors included intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell and Harold Laski, and politicians such as Indira Gandhi. Soaked in history , the club retains its 1940s colonial charm and features, right down to the simple wooden formica tables and green padded chairs. Paintings by M F Husain and portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Dadabhai Naoroji, Julius Silverman and Indira Gandhi adorn the walls. Nowadays it is open to all and frequented by Indian expats and diplomats.
Goldsand Hotels director Yadgar Marker, who has run the India Club bar, restaurant and hotel for 20 years, is fighting the new plans. “We already went to court over a similar planning application they tried to put in five years ago and we won,“ he said. “Our lease expires in 2019 but it is renewable. They want to repossess the building at the end of lease if certain conditions are met.“
Last Friday he submitted an application to get the building, which lies within the Strand Conservation Area, listed. “We have got quite a few letters of endorsement from prominent people regarding the historical status of this place. English Heritage will now come to inspect the premises and consider the historical significance and then decide if it will get listed or not. The Indian government is also preparing a statement to support us,“ he said.
An online petition opposing the develop ment, to be delivered to Westminster City Council has already garnered more than 9,000 signatures. Signatories include the great great grandson of Annie Besant, James Castle, and Lord Mountbatten's great granddaughter Rowan Brudenell. Castle wrote: “Annie Besant... fought for Home Rule for India for half her life. The spirit of the older Indian British connections lives on in the India Club and it must be looked after. I've been going there since 1982.“
Marker said the colonial look of the club has been preserved. “Even if we put a tablecloth, our customers would not want it. We have not changed anything, and just repaired the furniture. The stools, the bar, even the grill on the bar are all from that period. The loss of heritage concerns me more than the loss of my business,“ he added. “I could have refurbished it but I didn't. I wanted to keep it as it is so people could see how it looked in the 1940s and 50s. This is a piece of UK and Indian history . People love the ambience and the food.“
A spokesman for Westminster City Council said the plans, submitted in September, were out for public consultation.
Simon Marshall, director at Marston Properties, said: “We have already been very clear to several parties, including the India Club, that though there are several options for the building's future, no plans have been fixed and no one has been given any notice to leave.“
2017/ A struggle for survival
India Club in London fights for survival, September 21, 2017: The Hindu
Was hub for nationalists during independence movement
The India Club in London, a hub for Indian nationalists in the U.K. during the independence movement in the 1930s and 40s, is fighting for its survival after plans emerged for the building to be demolished internally.
The Club has its roots in the India League, which campaigned for Indian independence, and is located near India House — the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom.
It has functioned as an Indian restaurant and hangout for Indian journalists and intellectuals since 1946, with former Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi among its guests over the years.
Now, the leaseholders of the six-storey Edwardian building it is housed in at 143-145 The Strand in the heart of London have discovered a planning application made by the landlord with the local Westminster Council to convert the interiors of the building into a modern hotel establishment.
“This is a tragedy. We have done everything possible to retain the ethos and spirit of the place. We intend to build as much community support as possible to preserve this piece of Indian history,” said Yadgar Marker, the director of Goldsand Hotels Limited trading as The Strand Continental Hotel, which houses the India Club.
Parsi-origin Marker has been running the establishment with his wife, Freny, since they rescued it from ruin in 1997. He is now campaigning for it to receive listed status from English Heritage as a historically important landmark to save it from extinction.
The campaign has already received some high-profile backing, with Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor speaking out in favour of a Club co-founded by his late father, journalist Chandran Tharoor, along with V.K. Krishna Menon, independent India’s first High Commissioner to the U.K.
“The India Club has, for many years, offered a home away from home for Indians. It is iconic, as it has continued to preserve its old world charm. Given the importance of The India Club to Londoners and Indians alike, I am of the belief that it should be bestowed with ‘heritage status’,” writes Mr. Tharoor in his endorsement letter.
Low-cost option
The club is located on the first floor of the Strand Continental, a 26-room hotel always in high demand as a low-cost option in central London for travellers. The linked India Restaurant, which serves South Indian food, has been popular for its rustic and authentic Indian feel. “We have deliberately held on to the formica tables and other dated aspects, including old photographs and portraits, to retain the feel of 1940s India when nationalists would gather around cups of tea to deliberate on Indian independence. The feedback on the food and the architecture of this little India is always heart-warming,” said Mr. Marker, who is also preparing to launch a petition against the planning application that proposes to tear down the interiors. The club is the contemporary incarnation of the India League — established by Annie Besant in 1921 and then revived by Krishna Menon in 1929.
Most of the meetings of the India League were held at the House of Commons but a good proportion were held at the India Club on the Strand, according to William Gould, Professor of India History, University of Leeds.
“The India Club, especially because of its connections to the India League, is one of the most important heritage sites for South Asians in the U.K., and not just in London,” said Mr. Gould.
“It was one of the key sites for the discussion and planning of how British public opinion could be changed to favour Indian independence, and after 1947, it was the main lobbying organisation in the U.K. around Indian political affairs,” Mr. Gould said.
2018: overrun with mice
Naomi Canton, February 9, 2018: The Times of India
The India Club opened in 1946 and was a hub for Indian nationalists, intellectuals and politicians
London’s iconic India Club overrun with mice
A charming London club in the Strand, soaked in history where figures from India’s independence movement gathered, has a new battle on its hands: mice.
Goldsand Hotels, which runs the India Club, admitted various charges of breaching environmental health regulations at Westminster magistrates’ court on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Kirsty Panton told the court: “The (environmental health enforcement) officer observed holes in the ceiling of the kitchen and mouse droppings in the floor and wall junction.” “There were mouse droppings on the floor in the kitchen, on the floor in the dry storage room, in the service bar area and on shelving in the kitchen,” she added.
Panton said that in 2015 and 2016 the restaurant ignored officers who told them to make significant changes. “There was a serious failure to address the risks and these breaches were allowed to subsist over a period of time.”
The India Club opened in 1946 and was a hub for Indian nationalists, intellectuals and politicians from the pre-Independence era. Established by V K Krishna Menon, India’s first high commissioner to the UK, it served as the meeting venue of the India League, a British organisation which campaigned for Indian independence. Its founding members included Lady Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru.
“It was originally set up by the India League as a symbol of post-independence friendship and understanding between India and the UK,” Panton told the court. “The relevance of this is how the public sees the restaurant and the standards that are expected, not only what you would expect from any restaurant but particularly of one with such symbolism,” Panton added.
Goldsand Hotels director Yadgar Marker, who has been running the India Club bar, restaurant and hotel for 20 years, told TOI: “These are historic charges from two years ago. Ever since that time we have made a lot of improvements and our star rating has gone up. Two days ago we had the food inspector in and she prepared a very good report. We are next to Aldwych station and the whole area is infested with mice. We just try to keep an eye out constantly.”
A spokesman for Westminster City Council said: “The defendant has pled guilty, and the case has been adjourned until Friday, February 16.”
The India Club already has another battle on its hands — fighting its own demolition. Marston Properties has submitted plans to partially demolish and remodel the eight-storey Edwardian building to make way for a 30-bedroom modern hotel. Marker has gathered 20,000 names on a petition opposing any such move.
2023: The last supper
Naomi Canton, Sep 16, 2023: The Times of India
From: Naomi Canton, Sep 16, 2023: The Times of India
The India Club, a London institution with its roots stretching back more than 70 years, will close forever, September 17. Jawaharlal Nehru’s friend VK Krishna Menon, founder of the India League, had established it in 1951 as a private members’ club. Nehru himself and Lady Edwina Mountbatten were among its founding members and were present at its inauguration at 41 Craven Street. The club at first attracted politicians from Menon’s circle and drew its membership via nominations from the Englandbased India League that had campaigned for ‘Purna Swaraj’. After Independence, the League focused on UK-India relations and supporting the Indian diaspora, and the India Club continued this legacy. On moving to its current location – 143-145 The Strand – sometime in the 1950s or 60s, the club became a meeting place for writers, intellectuals, politicians and figures associated with India’s Independence, and then a sanctuary for new Indian migrants to London. The club “was India in Britain physically and spiritually,” Kusoom Vadgama, who arrived in the UK in 1953 from Nairobi, told a National Trust project chronicling the club’s social history. She said, “The fact you are there, something connected with India – that makes you feel at home and that was the reason for going there. ” Cozy Little Place Up winding stairs, the India Club is barely noticeable in a street packed with high-street restaurants. The letters of ‘Hotel Strand Continental’ are fading off the cracked slabs at the entrance. There is a sign outside that looks like it is from a backpacker hotel in Paharganj. The five-storey Edwardian building towers above a newsagent, Strand News, and Greggs bakery. Part of its charm is its simplicity and evocation of a bygone era. Inside the bar on the first floor, Indian miniatures, photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Krishna Menon and Indira Gandhi adorn the walls as ‘Easy Lover’ plays on loudspeakers. An ancient cash till sits on top of a shelf of random books. Newspaper cuttings from ‘India Weekly’ showcase the events held at the club in the 1960s and 70s on the wall. Upstairs, outside the noisy, packed restaurant, a man in jeans writes names of those wishing to dine there one last time, saying there is a two-hour wait.
Yadgar Marker and his daughter Phiroza, who run the club, have preserved its 1940s/50s look and feel. There are plain formica tables and padded stools. The bar has a grill on it. “Even if we put a tablecloth our customers would not want it,” Yadgar said. “I could have refurbished it, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep it as it is so people could see how it looked in the 1940s and 1950s. People love the ambience and the food. ”
Brings Back Memories
The bar serves chai mojitos, Indian single malt whiskies, Cobra and Kingfisher beer, and the restaurant serves mango lassi, butter chicken, and dal. At the worn coffee table, customers said they love the club because it is “real and authentic”, “cheap and cheerful”, and it serves the same In- dian food you get in India, in central London. “I love the simple 1940s style. There are few places where you can get such an atmosphere,” said one.
“We feel a sense of history and of the India League meetings here,” said BritishIndian Harjinder, who has roots in Punjab. He was there for a final meal in the club’s final week. “Great food, cheap booze, it has the cheap Indian Civil Service diplomatic vibe. This place reminds me of my father’s living room in Southall when I was growing up. ”
Harjinder attended Villiers High School in Southall in the 80s, and remembers coming to the club for a bite: “My Dad and I would go to the Indian High Commission in the 70s and put in our visa applications. Back then it took three hours and we would come here for samosas. ” Last time he came to the club, a group of Western hippies were discussing their trips around India in the 60s and 70s.
Making Way For The New
The club’s closing down because the property owners, Marston Properties, want to redevelop it into a modern hotel. They had submitted the redevelopment plans in 2017, but the Markers thwarted them with an online petition that got more than 32,000 signatures. The signatories included James Castle, the greatgreat-grandson of Annie Besant, and Rowan Brudenell, Lord Mountbatten’s great-great-grandson.
The Markers also applied to heritage body Historic England to get the building listed for protection. However, the appeal was turned down in May 2018. Historic England said the club “falls far short” of the criteria for listing as the India League did not meet in the Strand location until 1964, and the building’s “architectural fabric and design is not of special interest. . . The primary significance of the India League is in its campaign for independence. The building at 143-145 Strand, which did not come into use as the India Club until 1964, has no direct link to this important aspect of British-Indian history,” it said.
Significant Cultural Importance
William Gould, professor of Indian History at the University of Leeds, disputes this view. In his own report to Historic England, he wrote: “Although Kelly’s London Directory suggests that the earliest date that 143 Strand was the host for the India Club was 1965, there is extensive oral testimony that it acted as one base for the India League/India Club from at least the mid-1950s. ”
Councillors at Westminster city council’s planning sub-committee also recognised the club’s heritage value when, on July 31, 2018, they unanimously rejected Marston’s redevelopment proposals. The council’s planning officers wrote in their report: “Notwithstanding Historic England’s conclusion that the application site is not the building originally occupied by the India Club, it is still linked to the India League and is considered to be of significant cultural importance. ”
A council spokesman told TOI it has not received any new planning application for the site. All the same, the club closes for good on Sunday. Marston Properties sent TOI this joint statement: “Goldsand Hotels, trading as Strand Continental Hotel and the India Club, Restaurant & Bar, and Marston Properties have agreed terms for the hotel, restaurant and bar to give up occupation of 143-145 Strand. This will allow Marstons to run their own hotel from the property. Goldsand are looking for alternative premises to relocate the hotel, club, restaurant and bar. ”
Feeling Of Loss
The club’s patrons are dismayed. “It strikes at the heart of the people who fought for Independence,” said a grandson of Britain-based freedom fighter V P Hansrani, who was a leading figure in the India League. “The club was founded to make people feel at home in Britain. They stayed on in the UK even though they fought for Independence. It was a club for the Indians and allies within the British establishment. I would say the centre-left still come here as it has a Nehruvian feel. It is one of the oldest British-Indian institutions left in the UK. ”
A group from the 1928 Institute – set up in the UK as an extension of the India League – were enjoying their last meal at the club. “This is the epitome of the British India story – Indians coming to the UK and fighting imperialism but enjoying the positive aspects of British culture and making Britain their home,” their spokesperson said.
A bunch of cash-strapped students said they were there because it is the closest they can get to India.
“The closure of the India Club in London is a sad reflection on how the really historically important places of post-colonial communities in the city are being lost to luxury urban developments,” said Gould, adding, “The club was one of the most important sites for perhaps Europe’s largest diaspora from South Asia. It was a home away from home for new arrivals from the region to the city for around 70 years. ”
