An abandoned Kent building that was once a place of worship for the Sikh community will be converted into apartments after being spared demolition in 2020. From the early 1960s until 2008, the Gravesend Gurdwara served as a place of worship before the Sikh community relocated to new premises in Saddington Street.
The old building, vacant since 2010, was saved from demolition in 2020 when councilors voted against plans to flatten it and build 19 flats. The revised plans for the Gurdwara's conversion into flats rather than its destruction were stated in the updated proposal that the Gravesham council got in July.
The Gurdwara will be transformed into 14 apartments, a library, cycle and trash storage, and other amenities.
The structure was initially constructed in 1873 as the Milton Congregational Church and lecture hall, then in 1968, it was converted into a Sikh Gurdwara.
Additionally, it was the victim of vandalism in 2016, when several youths were observed hurling things, breaking glass, and damaging the Gurdwara.
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It is estimated that more than 15,000 Sikhs reside in Gravesend and the nearby suburbs, contributing to more than 15% of Gravesham's overall population (which now includes Gravesend). Sikhs first arrived in Kent in the 1950s, when a lack of inexpensive labor fueled demand for employees from overseas.
According to Kent Online, a number of Sikhs from Punjab immigrated to postwar Britain and worked in the riverside town's paper mill business and later large building projects such as the Dartford Tunnel.
According to a 2002 Channel 4 program on the first Sikhs to arrive in Kent, the majority of Sikh lodgings were along Pier Road, which was later referred to as "Sikh Street." Sikhs used to gather in a house on Edwin Street for religious services until the late 1960s when they moved to the Gurdwara in Clarence Place.
The new Sikh temple on Saddington Street claims to be one of the biggest Gurdwaras. It opened in November 2010 and cost 18 million pounds to build, which was totally supported by the local community.