A new community café has opened offering free hot meals for anyone who visits. 

It is operating at the Central Mosque of Brent in Willesden, every Friday after 1pm, while also open as a community space with free Wi-Fi, reading area, TV and computer. 

A team of volunteers runs the café in Station Parade, next to Willesden Green Underground station, part of the Islamic community centre serving the larger Brent community.

The café, formally opened by the mosque's chairman Dr Raja Amjid Riaz, is supported by the London Community Kitchen charity, the Co-Op food store and businesses in the district.

The centre was established in 1973 to teach Muslim children basic Islamic and religious education and awareness. It has since expanded and currently has proposals on the drawing board for a four-storey block of flats with underground car parking and community rooftop gardens to be developed on the mosque car park in Lennon Road.