London’s famous India Club has been saved from the wrecking ball after Westminster city council threw out a planning application because of its cultural and historical importance.

The freeholders, Marston Properties, had planned to expand and modernise the Strand Continental Hotel, which occupies the same six-storey central London building as the post-colonial restaurant and bar, to create modern tourist accommodation.

The owners of the India Club, Yadgar Marker and his daughter Phiroza, had hoped that Historic England would protect the building with listed status, but in May the decision went against them, throwing the club’s future into doubt.

But at a meeting on Tuesday evening the four members of Westminster planning committee unanimously voted to reject the planning application, on the grounds of the India Club’s significant cultural, historical and community value.

Last stand for Strand club where India’s past has stood still Read more

Councillor Tony Devenish, chairman of Westminster’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.”

Phiroza Marker, who attended the meeting with her father, said: “We are delighted that Westminster council has refused an application that would have seen a unique and iconic piece of London’s history disappear. We have been overwhelmed with the support we have received with over 26,000 people signing our petition in support of the India Club. Thank you to each and every one of our supporters who have contributed to the collective voice on the unique significance of the India Club.



“We are also extremely grateful to Westminster council for recognising the building’s cultural importance and contribution to the area. The India Club is a constant reminder of Westminster’s multicultural identity and Indo-British friendship.”

Marker said the priority now was to refurbish and protect the building for the longer-term. “We will now continue to campaign for the building’s long-term preservation, including applying to Westminster for its designation as an asset of community value.”

The club – whose founding members included Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and Countess Mountbatten, wife of the last viceroy – moved in 1964 to the building where, according to anecdotes, the India League had held meetings in the 1950s, soon after independence in 1947.

Signatories and supporters include the novelist Will Self, who has been a regular patron of the club since the 1980s, descendants of Lady Mountbatten and Annie Besant, the founder of the Home Rule for India group.

William Gould, professor of Indian history at the University of Leeds, said the club played an important role in the 1960s and the first arrivals of immigrants from south Asia to help rebuild postwar Britain.

“There’s some evidence that this was a place that people came to when they first arrived,” he told the Observer in May. “It is related to some of the themes of Windrush.”

Caroline Marston, managing director of Marston Properties, said: “Our plans were first and foremost designed to bring this building in line with modern safety standards. We have serious concerns about the current lack of fire exit and inadequate accessibility, both of which were raised in a recent fire safety report. We always intended to keep the original frontage and had no intention of demolishing the building, as is clear in our original planning application.”