Southall - Culture

Culture

Southall is primarily a South Asian residential district, sometimes known as "Little India". In 1950, the first group of South Asians arrived in Southall, reputedly recruited to work in a local factory owned by a former British Indian Army officer. This South Asian population grew, due to the closeness of expanding employment opportunities such as London Heathrow Airport. The most significant cultural group to settle in Southall are Asians. According to the Commission for Racial Equality, over 55% of Southall's population of 70,000 is Indian/Pakistani. There are ten Sikh Gurdwaras in Southall. The Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which opened in 2003, is one of the largest Sikh gurdwaras outside India, and it won the Ealing Civic Society Architectural Award in 2003. There are two large Hindu 'Mandir' temples, the Vishnu Hindu Mandir on Lady Margaret Road and the Ram Mandir in Old Southall. There are more than ten Christian churches including 5 Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and several Pentecostal or Independent. There are three Mosques 'Masjids' in Southall, the Abubakr Mosque situated on Southall broadway, the Central Jamia Masjid Mosque and the Jamia Masjid Islamic Centre.

In addition, the signs on the main railway station are bilingual in English and Gurmukhi, which is one of the written scripts of Punjabi.

Earlier, in the 1920s and 1930s Southall was the destination of many Welsh migrants escaping from the harsh economic conditions in that part of the country. For many years, Welsh accents were very commonplace in the area.

The main street in Southall is called The Broadway. Southall contains the largest South Asian shopping area within the M25. Southall was also the main location for the internationally acclaimed film Bend It Like Beckham.

Southall has a large gas tower which is noticeable from a great distance. Painted on the gas tower are "LH" in large letters and an arrow that denoted to aircraft pilots the direction to nearby London Heathrow Airport by visual flight rules (VFR) if landing on the now closed Runway 23. This was painted on the tower after a number of pilots became confused between Heathrow and the nearby RAF Northolt which has a much shorter runway. One Boeing 707 landed at Northolt by mistake and a number of other pilots were en route there when warned off by air traffic control.

Southall was also the location of the famed Glassy Junction public house, which was the first pub in the UK to accept Indian Rupees as payment. The Glassy Junction closed down in 2011 and has since been replaced by a Famous International South Indian restaurant chain. Southall has many well known restaurants such as Chaudhry's TKC (formerly the Tandoori Kebab Centre), established in 1965 was one of the first Indian restaurants in the UK. The Brilliant Resurant also appeared on TV Ramseys Best Restaurants and was nominated but failed to win any awards. Southall has also appeared in other Bollywood films as well, including Patiala House and Goal!.

There are two local community radio station servicing Southall; Westside 89.6 FM, licensed by Ofcom as part of their drive towards community-based radio services, and Desi Radio which predominantly broadcasts in Punjabi and is now available on DAB across Greater London.

Misty in Roots began life as a Southall-based British roots reggae band in the early 1970s.