Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Southall

Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall (SGSS) is a gurdwara and charity in Southall, in the London Borough of Ealing. The Sabha’s own history dates its story from 1958, when Sikhs who had been meeting in homes held programmes at Shackleton Hall and then at 11 Beaconsfield Road. In the early 1960s Sikhs arriving from Malaysia and Singapore formed Sri Guru Nanak Singh Sabha. The two groups merged in 1964 as Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall and opened their first gurdwara at The Green.

Key moments

• April 1967: the Khanda arrived from Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, for amrit parchar, and a former dairy was converted into a gurdwara within weeks.
• 29 May 1981: the Sabha fed the marchers of the People’s March for Jobs and gave 200 of them a place to sleep.
• 1984 to 1997: the Park Avenue site was bought in 1984, and the congregation moved there in 1997 so that a new gurdwara could be built at Havelock Road, now Guru Nanak Road.
• 30 March 2003: the new gurdwara opened. The Sabha says Prince Charles inaugurated it. Wikipedia, citing the BBC, says building began in March 2000, that community donations paid for it, that it cost 17.5 million pounds and that it holds 3,000.

What it does

The Sabha’s own figures are over 15,000 worshippers and visitors each week (its home page says about 50,000 visitors weekly), a main hall for up to 3,000 and a Multi Activity Hall for up to 1,000, and a strictly vegetarian langar serving up to 20,000 meals a week. It runs Punjabi language, gurmat and kirtan classes. Wikipedia says it set up Khalsa Primary School at Norwood Hall, which also accepts children of other faiths.

How large it is

The Sabha describes itself as the leading Sikh institution outside India, and Wikipedia calls the gurdwara the largest Sikh temple in London. No independent ranking behind either claim has been found.