London's Trocadero is set to be reborn as a nightlife destination after plans for a new casino were approved - but will have an unlikely neighbour in the form of a mosque.
Westminster Council's planning committee green-lit Genting Casinos' plan to convert the former Opium nightclub and several retail units into a 1,250-capacity gambling den.
The new gaming house wedged between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square will have round-the-clock security and will create some 350 jobs.
But it will also share a building with a Muslim prayer space that was approved two years ago. Gambling is considered 'haram', or forbidden, in Islam, making the two ventures unlikely stablemates.
Plans for the place of worship, dreamt up by a charitable foundation chaired by Trocadero owner Asif Aziz, were signed off in June 2023.
