Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara Bradford

What it is: The Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara stands on Gobind Marg, off Leeds Road, near the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire. Its website calls it a place of worship and a cultural learning centre, open to everyone. The Royal Geographical Society's Discovering Britain walk calls it the largest gurdwara in Bradford, and the BFI catalogue calls it the city's first purpose-built gurdwara.

How it began: Its history page says Bradford had no gurdwara until 1964, and Sikhs went to Chapeltown in Leeds. The first Bradford gurdwara was founded that year at 16 Garnett Street. The Yorkshire Standard (2015) dates that temple to 1965 and says it was in a former carpet warehouse and has since closed. In 1965 its committee bought a plot on Malvern Street; in 1970 a dispute over building there or buying Prospect Hall on Wakefield Road split it. The United Sikh Association built on Malvern Street; the Bradford Sikh Association bought Prospect Hall and renamed it Gurdwara Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

Key moments

• 1970: building begins on Malvern Street.
• 1972: formally opened, with the Lord Mayor of Bradford, the Indian High Commissioner and local MPs present (its history page). The BFI catalogue gives 12 March 1972.
• 1975: land is bought for a car park, with a building that now houses its Panjabi school.
• 1985: a new Diwan Hall. 1999: a rebuild adds a second Diwan Hall and a larger Langar Hall.
• 1999: Malvern Street is renamed Gobind Marg (Discovering Britain). The history page ties this to 300 years of the Khalsa.

What it does: Its website lists a Sunday Panjabi school (nearly 200 children, courses up to GCSE), Gurmat and music classes, a library, and an Elderly Day Centre funded by Bradford Council. It hosts Anand Karaj weddings and Akhand, Sehaj and Sukhmani Sahib Paaths. A police surgery runs on the first Sunday of each month, and a passport surgery on the second Sunday with the Indian Workers Association. At the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is taken to each of Bradford's six gurdwaras.

Where it stands: Its committee page says the sangat elects the committee. The one elected in May 2018 stayed on after Covid-19 stopped elections, and in September 2021 no new one had been appointed. We found no source on its part in 1984 or later Panthic events, so this page does not cover them.