By: JurmoloyaRava
HISTORIC ENGLAND TO MAKE DECISION ON MUCH-LOVED PREMISES
by AMIT ROY
THE fate of the much-loved India Club, the restaurant and bar at 143-145 The Strand, rests with Historic England which has visited the premises and will recommend whether the place should be listed.
The danger comes from the freeholders, Marston Properties, which has asked Westminster Council for planning permission to demolish the India Club and replace it with a brand new boutique hotel.
“The final decision on whether a building is listed or not is made by the department for digital, culture, media and sport,” said a spokeswoman for Historic England. “We have received a listing application for the India Club in London.”
“Following a site visit on October 12 by one of our team, we are currently producing our consultation report,” she said. “We envisage consulting in mid-November and the consultation period lasts for three weeks, following which we will make our assessment of the building and make a recommendation to the DCMS as to whether it should be listed or not. Our deadline for submission to the DCMS is January 19, 2018.”
India Club is currently run by leaseholders Yadgar and Phiroza Marker, father and daughter, who have carried on a tradition that goes back before 1947 when VK Krishna Menon (who went on to be India’s high commissioner to the UK) and others set up the India league as a vehicle to press for Indian independence.
Today, time seems to stand still in the India Club where the staircase retains its original features, the “Dining Room” sign has a distinctly colonial look and portraits of VK Krishna Menon and Dadabhai Naoroji hang alongside those of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Neh-ru and Mahat-ma Gandhi.
The restaurant is much frequented by students and lecturers from King’s College and the London School of Economics, lawyers from the high court and the Inns, diplomats from India House, and others such as English members of the “Curry Club” who have been using the place for over 50 years. It is effectively the home of the Indian Journalists’ Association, (IJA) which was set up in May 29, 1947, and marked its 70th birthday with a reception at the India Club on May 29, 2017.
When headwaiter Gyanaprakasam Joseph died in 2010 after 37 years of serving masala dosa and bhuna lamb, two much favoured dishes, he merited an obituary in The Guardian, which said “he was incredibly popular with the customers, who loved his warmth and charm”.
The India Club’s committee members included long serving Labour MPs, Julius Silverman (1905-1996) and Reginald Sorensen (1891-1971), as well as Behram Saklatvala, son of Shapurji Dorabji Saklatvala (1874-1936), Communist MP for Battersea North (1924-29). Silverman’s obituary in The Independent was written by the MP Tom Dalyell who noted that “his long association with India had begun before the Second World War”.
Dalyell added: “For 20 years, 1927-47, he had been the prominent secretary of the Indian League, of which he became president in 1947. Three years before Menon’s death in 1974, Silverman himself became chairman of the India League.”
The point about the India Club is that it is not sealed in aspic, but is probably more popular today than it has been any time during the last 50 or 60 years. Indeed, Marston, which claims to be “sensitive to the characteristics of the local area, retaining original features and rescuing historically significant buildings from demolition”, might do better to promote the India Club as an international tourist destination.
Among many who have appealed to Historic England to save the India Club is the author
Shashi Tharoor, who pointed out that his father, Chandran Tharoor (1929-1993) was “one of the founder members of the India Club. He organised many cultural events that were attended by the then president of India, Rajendra Prasad, and the high commissioner to London, VK Krishna Menon. The India Club has, for many years, offered a home away from home for Indians.”
The sculptor, Sir Anish Kapoor, wants it “preserved for future generations”. He said the India Club “has always been a haven for artistic groups from poets, painters, photographers, film makers and writers. Today, as a lot of London is becoming homogenised with modern developments, India Club stands out as living history of a bygone age.”
Will Self, the journalist and professor of contemporary thought at Brunel University, revealed: “I have been visiting the India Club and its restaurant on a regular basis for over thirty years now – indeed, I would go so far as to say it’s an integral part of my life. I have written about the restaurant, both for The Observer and the New Statesman.”
He added: “As a writer and an academic preoccupied by the built environment, I often bring my students and other interested visitors to the India Club: a meal in the restaurant teaches them more about London, India, and the vexed relationship between the two, than several days in a library.” Prof Michael Cox, director, LSE IDEAS, recalled: “Harold Laski who was professor of the LSE who became involved with the India League through Menon and often attended meetings at 143-145 The Strand. The building has played a pivotal role in British-Indian history.”
There were pleas, too, from Lord Karan Bilimoria (“the India Club has huge historical significance and is truly a legendary institution”; and Professor Michael Walling, artistic director, Border Crossings (“a crucial part of the joint heritage of the UK and India”).
Dr Louise Tillin, senior Lecturer and Interim director of the India Institute at King’s College, spoke on behalf of staff and students when she said: “Established at the time of India’s struggle for independence from British rule, the India Club was a lounge, bar and restaurant that offered a meeting place for Indian intellectuals, journalists, writers and leaders of the nationalist movement in London. It is a site of historical significance and social vitality that should be protected.”
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