Thousands have signed a petition to protest the conversion of a closed pub into a mosque. The Glen in Leicester shut in spring 2023 and has been vacant since. Now, the Eyres Monsell Community Foundation has had plans to convert the building into a mosque approved by the council.
An agent from the foundation told the council’s planning committee that the pub has “stood empty” since 2022, despite efforts to find a new landlord for it. He added: “But this building does not need to remain vacant. The application proposes to bring it back into meaningful, active, community use as a place of worship.”
The agent said the foundation is already established in the ward, having operated out of the local community centre since 2018, with its congregation having “grown and grown” since then and the group needing a “permanent home”. This is a “local proposal made by local people to benefit the local community”, he said.