On Hardwicke Lane, a tiny masjid faces hostility and xenophobia, but it can’t afford to move
A new report says there’s a lack of spaces for faith-based communities in the north-east inner-city, and urges the council to help.
“Junior fell into our lives at the start of 2020. Like, literally fell into the Guinness yard.”

Junior fell into our lives at the start of 2020. Like, literally fell into the Guinness yard (which is technically our back garden) while I was working from home at the start of the pandemic.
She was a tiny cub who got separated from her mother and fell 50 feet from an adjacent yard, resulting in what we suspected was a broken rear leg or hip. Feeling sorry for her we would throw in scraps of food, thinking she would probably disappear.
But she decided to make the James’s Gate keg yard her home. Three years later, she still comes every night (on the dot of 7:30). She likes chicken, tofu, and Linda McCartney veggie sausages. She hates prawns, chips or potatoes.
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