London Central Mosque

Beautiful Mosque. Everyone so friendly. Great bookstore and little restaurant.

While admittedly in need of a renovation, this masjid is a must see. The prayer area is beautiful and the mosque has a very friendly and social atmosphere - people linger well after prayers to talk and relax. For tourists, it is also conveniently located near many of the classic London sights and public transportation. Jumma is very crowded so if you want a nice peaceful visit, it might be better to come during a weekend Maghrib or Isha prayer. The mosque runs many classes and also has a small restaurant and bookstore.

The women's toilet is perpetually smelly and that's enough to turn me off.

I have been to this masjid on several occasions. I agree it is overcrowded especially for sisters; if you go to tarawih expect to be waiting for an hour to even get a space and in the process miss half the salat. The sisters section also used to have a problem of women coming there simply to hang around in the masjid and in the wudu area of all places! Because of this the womens wudu area became very unkempt and was often flooded with a few inches of water from kids playing with the taps etc; now they have had to lock the main womens entrance and the only way women can get in now is through a door in the main masjid which requires walking in front of the brothers section and on jumu'ah brothers praying; but if you don't use it you lose it and the masjid had to take this step to prevent the problem of women coming to the masjid just to hang around somewhere. Inside the masjid is beautiful but the womens section is confined to just a small balcony which is simply not enough especially since this masjid and its community encourage women to come to the masjid; so it needs some updating. There is also a cool little bookshop there as well

Regent's Park Mosque is worth visiting only because it has a unique history and has an important place in the history of British Islam. Go there to pray, especially jummah, because you will get a taste of the incredible diversity of London Muslims. The khutbahs (in Arabic and sometimes translated into English) are occasionally interesting, but the people you will meet will make up for these deficiences. If you go on a summer's evening and the large side doors of the main hall are opened, the cool breeze will make the place seem downright idyllic. That's the good part. The sad part is that architecturally, it is one of the most uninspired Islamic building ever built. It has little architectural creativity. It's concrete construction makes it feel like a building site and the colours (grey upon grey) are enough to induce malaise in the soul. The staff are often gruff and on many an occasion I have seen non-Muslim guests (and those not properly attired) told off in a rather rude and abrupt way. It is quite sad considering that this is London's central mosque that greater thought was not given to design. Perhaps it is a curse of 1970s modernism, but those who attended the mosque in the 1960s and eary 70s, when it was a large mansion, say that they wish the building had never been built (at least in this way. Nevertheless, it is a house of God, so go, but don't go with expectations.

Beautiful mosque in a beautiful location. The presence of Regent's Park right next to the mosque adds to its allure.