London’s India Club with ties to freedom movement saved from demolition

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.

It said in a report to the government on May 8: “(The) building lacks a connection with the Indian independence movement, having been established many years after independence was achieved.

"By the time the club moved to the Strand, it was one of a great number of organisations in existence in the 1960s working to promote British-Indian relations, and supporting the Indian diaspora.”

Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten were some of the founders of the India Club, which continues to attract a large number of people for its period ambience, Indian food and memories of a time when it was one of the centres of pro-independence activities in London. The club has several historic photos related to India. 

The club owned by Marston Properties is part of a building that includes a hotel. The owner sought the council's permission to modernise the property to meet updated safety standards. 

The India Club has been run by Yadgar Marker since 1997, with the lease due to expire in 2019. Marker campaigned to save the club, enlisting historians such as William Gould, leading to several reports in the British and Indian news media.

The council document further said: “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.

“The content of the objections received make clear that the India Club is a much valued institution and has substantial community worth. Even if the India Club were not as culturally important as it is, there would still be a case for its retention as a restaurant/bar.

“The India Club is a vibrant and busy meeting place for both the local community and visitors from around the world, and its replacement with additional hotel accommodation would decrease the range of places to eat and drink for visiting members of the public.”