Harrogate mosque group buys Home Guard club building
- Published
The new mosque will be on the site of the the former Home Guard Club
A Muslim group says it is "relieved" to have secured a permanent place of worship after a decade-long search.
The Harrogate Islamic Association (HIA) has spent ten years raising money to purchase a suitable site for the town's first mosque.
The group purchase of the Home Guard club building - a former hospital and Masonic Hall on Tower Street - was rubber-stamped on Friday.
HIA's Zahed Amanullah said members were "relieved and happy".
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), he said about 150 had people gathered together to mark the completion of the sale on Friday.
"We have had to bounce from place to place to have our prayers all these years, and everyone is now just so relieved and happy - it feels really, really good," he said.
"The timing is also great with Ramadan which is the holiest month for us."
The group received planning permission for the project in March, despite some objections over traffic and parking concerns.
The former Home Guard Club was originally a hospital from 1873 until 1883, before being used as Harrogate's first custom-built Masonic Hall.
Mr Amanullah said: "It is now up to us to make this what we promised it would be and that is a building that everyone can be proud of.
"Once it is restored, people will really appreciate that a piece of Harrogate's history has been restored - and we will love being caretakers of that."
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