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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
congregation has
also started to
worship here.
The British Chinese
community is
probably the oldest
Chinese community
in Western Europe
with the first arrivals
coming from the
ports of Tianjin and
Shanghai in the early
1800s to the ports of
London, Cardiff and
Liverpool. At first
London’s Chinese
quarter was close to
the river and the -
docks at Limehouse. Powerful myths about Chinese
criminality and even a white slave trade grew on much
exaggerated reports of gambling and opium dens and the
flames were fuelled by the imagination of authors with
villains such as Sax Rohmer’s evil Dr Fu Manchu. By the
1960s electric washing machines had all but finished off
the Chinese laundry trade and many Chinese families
switched to the restaurant trade. By 1963 Soho Chinatown
had taken over from Limehouse as the hub of Chinese life
in the Capital and it is here that we stop for free time for
lunch today. Your folk can sample the delights of Chinese
food or stick to a traditional British pub or a French
patisserie or an Italian café or an Indian restaurant or a
Japanese Sushi bar - the list is almost endless!
The Swaminarayan Mandir at Neasden was the first
traditional Hindu Mandir in Europe. 2,820 tonnes of
Bulgarian limestone and 2,000 tonnes of Italian Carrara
marble were shipped to India, carved by over 1,500
craftsmen, and reshipped to London. In all 26,300 carved
pieces were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle in less
than three years. It was a miracle of modern times worked
by over a thousand volunteers. The Mandir has been
described as the 8th wonder of the world by The Reader's
Digest and has earned a place in their book, “The 70
Wonders of the 20th Century”. We go inside the temple
for a tour and visit the Understanding Hinduism
exhibition. Your folk will be asked to remove their shoes
for part of the tour.
There is time to buy a cup of tea in the Mandir café before
heading for home at 4.45pm.
The tour is available Monday to Saturday all year and
is ideal for the winter and spring months.
Adults: £13.95 Seniors: £13.50
Coach Mileage: 25
This sign means that the walking is the
same as walking twice around the
Olympic track - 800 metres or about
880 yards spread through the day.
If your group has been to
the Neasden Mandir ask
about going to the Bevis
Marks or the Sandys Row
Synagogue or the London
Welsh Centre instead.