Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, Gravesendਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦਰਬਾਰ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ, ਗ੍ਰੇਵਸੈਂਡ

Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent, is the largest gurdwara in Europe and one of the largest Sikh temples outside India, and it is an entry in our guide to Gurdwaras in the UK. Opened in November 2010 on Guru Nanak Marg, off Saddington Street, it holds three prayer halls and two langar halls, with a stated capacity of 10,000 people, and it serves a community whose first Gravesend gurdwara opened in a terraced house in the 1950s.

What is Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara?

It is the main gurdwara of Gravesend's Sikhs, named for Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith. Worship centres on the Guru Granth Sahib Ji in its prayer halls, and the building is far more than a prayer hall: it houses a Punjabi school, a day centre for the elderly, a lecture theatre, a library and a sports hall, and its langar halls serve free vegetarian food to everyone, in the Sikh tradition that all are equal at the Guru's door.

History: from Edwin Street to Clarence Place

Sikh worship in Gravesend began in homes. In the early 1950s the first Guru Granth Sahib Ji was brought to the town by the family of Darshan Singh Sangha, from near Amritsar, and the congregation met at Wakefield Street, in the home of Charan Singh Jandialiwala. In 1956 or 1957 the community bought 55 Edwin Street, a terraced house, for 575 pounds and made it the town's first gurdwara; in the 1960s a library of some 500 books was brought from India by the schoolteacher Joginder Singh Mattu.

As the sangat grew, Edwin Street became too small. The community bought a building in Clarence Place, originally a church and later a wholesale warehouse, for 13,000 pounds, and the new gurdwara opened there on Sunday 17 November 1968. A nagar kirtan, the hymn singing procession, carried the Guru Granth Sahib Ji from Edwin Street, some 3,000 people took part, and the day fell on the 499th birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The gurdwara's own history records that Clarence Place was then the largest gurdwara in the United Kingdom, and it served Gravesend's Sikhs for 42 years, holding thousands of weddings, Akhand Paths and family celebrations.

The new temple of 2010

By the late 1990s the community had outgrown Clarence Place too. After two or three years of planning, work on a new site began in April 2002, and the build took more than eight years. On 19 November 2010, almost exactly 42 years after the Clarence Place opening, a nagar kirtan brought the Guru Granth Sahib Ji to the new gurdwara on Guru Nanak Marg, off Saddington Street. The architect was Teja Biring, and the complex is counted among the largest gurdwara complexes outside India.

Inside, the complex has three prayer halls and two langar halls with separate industrial kitchens, a lecture theatre, an IT room, a library and a reception area, with the Punjabi school, the elderly day centre and the sports hall in buildings around it. On cost, the sources differ: Wikipedia lists 12 million pounds, while the gurdwara's own site gives 15 million pounds; both agree the temple was funded by the community it serves.

Sport, school and seva

Gravesend's gurdwara has an unusual sporting record. Its GNG Football Club was founded in 1965 and plays on two FA approved pitches ringed by a running track; its women's and girls' section fields some 70 players, and its founder Parm Gill received a UEFA Grassroots gold award in 2018. The GNG Kabaddi Club began in 1964, and the first UK kabaddi tournament was held on the gurdwara field in 1969. The sports hall hosts boxing, basketball, netball, volleyball and karate, and the Guru Nanak Day Centre, established for the elderly in 1993, runs from the complex.

Service runs through everything here. In line with sarbat da bhala, the Sikh prayer for the welfare of all, the gurdwara served 60,000 free meals to hospital staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, and its doors open daily from 3.45 in the morning to 7.30 in the evening, according to the gurdwara's own site.

Festivals and gatherings

The year's great days are Vaisakhi, which marks the founding of the Khalsa in 1699, and the Gurpurabs of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, in whose name the temple stands. Gravesend's Vaisakhi is a town occasion: in April 2015 the prime minister of the day, David Cameron, joined the celebrations here with his wife Samantha. On ordinary weeks the rhythm is the gurdwara's own: morning and evening prayer, kirtan, weddings and the langar that never asks who you are.

How do you visit Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara?

You visit at Guru Nanak Marg, off Saddington Street, in Gravesend, Kent, a short walk from the town centre and its station, on the Thames east of London. Everyone is welcome, Sikh or not, and nothing needs booking. Cover your head, take off your shoes, sit in a prayer hall for as long as you wish, and stay for langar. The gurdwara's own site, gurunanakdarbar.org, carries its opening hours and programme.