A MOSQUE has opened in Wrexham at the former Miners’ Institute building.
Wrexham Muslim Association finalised the purchase of the building on Grosvenor Road last week and worshippers are now using the space for daily prayers.
Association chairman Dr Ikram Shah said Muslims in the area had been looking for a permanent base in Wrexham for 20 years. They have had to use temporary facilities to worship and recently used Rhosddu Community Centre and a site at Glyndwr University.
During this time they have been saving to buy a building to use as a mosque and have also received funding from the community.
The building, which has a prayer hall and another hall, has a maximum capacity of about 800 people but there are only about 15-20 worshippers using it daily.
Dr Shah said at peak religious times the maximum number of people would probably be 200.
The mosque will offer a Madrasah for teaching Quran, a library, a day centre, function room for Islamic events, a community hall and funeral services, which are all not available to the local Muslims at the moment.
The mosque is in a conservation area which means the outside of the building must not be altered in any way but a council spokesman said planning permission was not needed to change the use of the building.
Dr Shah said parking was “not adequate” and would be reserved for disabled, women and children. He said it was expected most worshippers would walk to the
mosque.
He added no major work would be carried out inside the building except for repairs and paintwork.
In a statement the association said: “It has been a 20 year effort to get to this point.
The place will be used for religious, educational and cultural activities
“We wish to thank the local faith groups especially the Wrexham churches and the community in general for their support.”
The Miners’ Institute first opened in 1923 and closed its doors in 2008 because of a “lack of patronage and financial constraints”.
A group has been set up on social networking site Facebook in opposition to the mosque but Dr Shah said: “We have had a lot of support from local churches and communities.
“If people have any doubts obviously, once we are up and running, we’d be happy to ask them to come around and speak to us. We have preserved the Institute for
the community and hope to have open days in future.”