London

Founded in the 1950s, the India Club - an iconic lounge-cum-restaurant and bar, located in London is shutting down next month. With early roots in the Indian independence movement, the shutting down is being regarded as the end of a chapter by its patrons. 

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Proprietors Yadgar Marker and his daughter Phiroza who had been fighting to keep the restaurant going, even launching a "Save India Club" campaign previously, announced the impending closure last week. 

“It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the closure of the India Club, with our last day open to the public on September 17,” they said.

“Since its opening over 70 years ago, the India Club has been a home-away-from-home for first-generation immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, as well as a community space for Indo-British groups,” said Phiroza, who has been helping out her father at the club since childhood.

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Indian parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to lament the closure of the club as his father Chandan Tharoor was one of the founding members. 

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“As the son of one of its founders, I lament the passing of an institution that served so many Indians (and not only Indians) for nearly three-quarters of a century," posted Tharoor. 

"For many students, journalists and travellers, it was a home away from home, offering simple and good quality Indian food at affordable prices as well as a convivial atmosphere to meet and maintain friendships,” he added.

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History of the club

Located on the first floor of the Hotel Strand Continental, the club was started by members of the India League, which was a Britain-based organisation that campaigned for India's independence in the 1900s. Former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is also believed to be one of the club's founding members. Krishna Menon, who went on to become the first Indian High Commissioner to the UK, is also regarded as another founding member of the Club. 

“Menon intended the India Club to be a place where young Indian professionals living on a shoestring could afford to eat, discuss politics, and plan their futures,” Parvathi Raman, Founding Chair of the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

In the aftermath of Indian independence and partition, the Club transformed into a hub for a rapidly growing British South Asian community. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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