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A Muslim billionaire has won permission to turn a major London landmark into a mosque.
Mega-rich Asif Aziz, 56, known as Mr West End will take over the Trocadero in the centre of the capital.
Malawian-born Mr Aziz, who owns a property portfolio of over £2billion and bought the Trocadero itself for more than £220million in 2005, is founding the mosque through his charitable arm, the Aziz Foundation.
Asif Aziz was given approval by a planning committee back in May to build a mosque in part of the complex that’s been vacant since 2006, according to The Daily Mail. It will have the capacity to host 390 worshippers.
While plans to build the mosque have been in the works for years, Aziz has faced backlash from residents and far-right groups for his proposal, which originally called for a much bigger space.
According to The Telegraph, nationalist groups like Britain First organized a petition demanding the mosque be rejected, which some saw as xenophobic.
The Trocadero has had a long history as one of London’s premier real-estate jewels. Built in 1896 as a restaurant, the complex was closed in 1965 and sat vacant until it was turned into an exhibition space in the 1980s with an attached hotel.
