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Shah Jolal Restaurant
Cafe for former seamen
Location(s)
London
E1 6LY
United Kingdom
About
The Shah Jolal Restaurant was established by Ayub Ali, a former lascar who arrived in London in 1920, having jumped ship at Tilbury Docks. Located in the heart of the East End, this cafe served as a hub for the Indian community there. It was frequented by ex-lascars who inhabited the area, and also served as a meeting-place for the East End branch of V. K. Krishna Menon’s India League. In this last respect, its visitors included renowned cultural and political figures such as Mulk Raj Anand, Narayana Menon and Krishna Menon, as well as its more regular working-class clientele.
Meetings of the East End branch of the India League
Ayub Ali (founder and owner of the cafe; co-founder of the Indian Seamen’s Welfare League)
Ismail Ali (attended India League meetings there), Surat Alley (attended IL meetings there), Mulk Raj Anand (attended IL meetings there), Asha Bhattacharyya (attended IL meetings there), Kundan Lal Jalie (attended IL meetings there), V. K. Krishna Menon (meetings of his India League were held there), Narayana Menon (attended IL meetings there), Shah Abdul Majid Qureshi (close links with Ayub Ali through the Indian Seamen’s Welfare League; attended IL meetings there), Said Amir Shah (attended IL meetings there).
Adams, Caroline (ed.) Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers (London: THAP, 1987)
Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
L/PJ/12/455, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras
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Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
