LONDON: The property’s location can’t be bettered, but the view from some of the rooms leaves a bit to be desired.
Buyers seeking a base in one of London’s wealthiest neighborhoods have the chance to purchase an unusual piece of property: A disused London subway station that housed the city’s anti-aircraft defenses during World War II.
Brompton Road station is being sold by the Ministry of Defense, which bought the building after it was closed to passengers in the 1930s.
The ministry, which is selling several properties and laying off thousands of soldiers in a cost-cutting drive, says the building has been declared “surplus to requirements” and will be put on sale next month.
It is expected to fetch about 20 million pounds ($30 million). That buys 28,000 square feet (2,600 square meters) of aboveground and underground space.
The site includes a station building covered in the distinctive oxblood-colored tiles of London Underground’s Piccadilly Line. The ministry said the interior includes “a drill hall, garages, offices and mess,” as well as elevator shafts and underground passages — though not the subway tunnels, which remain in use and belong to London’s transit operator. The station is near to the historic Brompton Oratory church and the ritzy Harrods department store. It opened in 1906 but turned out to be too close to other stations to attract many passengers, and was closed in 1934. In 1936 it was bought by the government and became an army anti-aircraft headquarters, protecting London from German bombers during the Blitz.
The building is still used by the military, housing air and naval units from the University of London and an Air Training Corps squadron.
Simon Hodson of real estate agents Jones Lang LaSalle said Wednesday that the “prime central London site provides an excellent redevelopment opportunity.”
A firm called the Old London Underground Company has expressed an interest in buying the station and turning it into a restaurant and entertainment venue.
Brompton Road is one of several abandoned subway stations in London. Many are derelict, although Aldwych station has been preserved as a location for filming period dramas.
London underground station to be sold
London underground station to be sold
In southeast Pakistan, Ramadan brings Hindus and Muslims closer
MITHI: Partab Shivani, a Hindu in Muslim-majority Pakistan, has fasted on and off during Ramadan for years, but this time is different as he practices abstinence for the entire holy month.
Every year, he and his friends in the southeastern city of Mithi arrange iftar, when Muslims break their daily fast, to foster peace and solidarity between the two religions.
“I believe we need to promote interfaith harmony. First, we are humans — religions came later,” Shivani, a 48-year-old social activist, told AFP, adding that he also reads the teachings of the Buddha.
“His message is about peace and ending war. Peace can spread through solidarity and by standing with one another. Distance only widens the gap between people,” he added.
Ninety-six percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people are Muslim. Just two percent are Hindu, most of them living in rural areas of Sindh province where Mithi is located.
In Mithi itself, most of the 60,000 inhabitants are Hindu.
Many of the city’s Hindus also observe Ramadan and iftar has become a social gathering where people from both faiths happily participate.
“This has been a wonderful tradition of ours for a very long time,” said Mir Muhammad Buledi, a 51-year-old Muslim friend who attended Shivani’s iftar gathering.
“It is a beautiful example of harmony between the two communities.”
Like brothers
Discrimination against minorities runs deep in Pakistan.
Following the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
That triggered widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, freedom of religion or belief is under constant threat, with religiously motivated violence and discrimination increasing yearly.
State authorities, often using religious unrest for political gain, have failed to address the crisis, the independent non-profit says.
But such tensions are absent in Mithi.
“I am a Hindu but I keep all the fasts during this month,” said Sushil Malani, a local politician. “I feel happy standing with my Muslim brothers.
“We celebrate Eid together as well. This tradition in the region is very old.”
Restaurants and tea stalls are closed across Pakistan during Ramadan.
Ramesh Kumar, a 52-year-old Hindu man who sells sweets and savoury items outside a Muslim shrine, keeps his push cart covered and closed until iftar.
“There is no discrimination among us if someone is Muslim or Hindu. I have been seeing this since my childhood that we all live together like brothers,” he said.
Muslim shrine, Hindu caretaker
Locals say Mithi’s peaceful religious coexistence can be traced to its remote location, emerging from the sand dunes of the Tharparkar desert, which borders the modern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Cows — considered sacred in Hinduism — roam freely in Mithi city, as they do in neighboring India.
At two Sufi Muslim shrines in the middle of the city, Hindu families arrange meals, bringing fruit, meals and juices for their Muslim neighbors to break their fasts.
“We respect Muslims,” said Mohan Lal Malhi, a Hindu caretaker of one of the shrines.
Mohan said his parents and elders taught him to respect people regardless of religion or color, and the traditions pass from one generation to the next.
Local residents said both communities consider their social relationships more important than their religious identity.
“You will see a (Sikh) gurdwara, a mosque, and a shrine standing side by side here,” Mohan said. “The atmosphere of this area teaches humanity.”
