Croydon Mosque

Croydon Mosque & Islamic Centre stands in the London Borough of Croydon, on London Road. It began in the 1960s with small meetings in a basement on Derby Road. In 1970 the mosque moved to a rented office space on Wellesley Road. After thirteen years there it relocated to its present building in 1978. The current site has grown through three phases of building work since the 1980s. The mosque matters because it serves a large and varied community. It started mainly for East African, Asian, Indian and Pakistani Muslims. Today it welcomes Somalian, Turkish, Afghan, Middle Eastern and Bosnian worshippers as well. More than nine thousand people visit each week on average. During Ramadan the number rises to over thirty thousand. The mosque also runs a madrasah, daily prayers, wudhu facilities and youth activities. Inside, the mosque has prayer halls, offices and a dome added in 1988. A second phase brought more prayer space and offices. Plans for a four-storey extension include a women and children’s centre and an eighteen-metre minaret. The new building will raise the mosque’s capacity to four thousand. Outside, the surroundings reflect Croydon’s changing community.