Religious organisations stand on the frontline against poverty in Luton
Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are joining together to help people in need this winter — and beyond
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It’s Friday evening in Luton town centre and fragrant spices fill the air. The Discover Islam centre, a converted shopfront near the town hall, is running its weekly Curry Kitchen, providing hot meals for people who need them.
Dozens are already queuing. Black, white and Asian. Elderly men and young mothers with children. Housed or not. Muslim or atheist. Native or new arrival. Whoever wants help gets it.
As the clock strikes 6pm, volunteers behind a table inside the centre begin handing out plastic bags filled with food containers. People from local businesses and organisations often come to help out. When I visit, two non-Muslim women from the Luton Dart — the town’s new airport light rail link — are distributing the packages.
On the menu this week is chicken biryani and saag aloo. Both dishes have been cooked in the kitchen of Venue Central, a popular spot for wedding receptions, which provides Discover Islam with the meals at less than cost.
Boxed meals are also kept aside to be taken to local shelters for unhoused people later in the evening. To the left of the room stands a clothing rack filled with winter coats, while another holds children’s clothes. Elsewhere, revision guides, books and toys are packed into a white storage unit.
Established in 2012 against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia in Luton and beyond, Discover Islam has provided crucial support for residents facing financial hardship. Every month, around 5,000 people pass through its doors and, since the 2015 launch of the Curry Kitchen, the initiative has distributed more than 55,000 meals.
The centre’s existence can be traced back to an unlikely source. In 2009, Luton-based far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon launched the anti-Muslim English Defence League, which went on to stoke racial and religious hatred across the country.
Sufian Sadiq, chair and co-founder of Discover Islam, got together with other local Muslims to see what could be done to challenge misconceptions about their faith. Sadiq and others spoke to more than 2,500 non-Muslims in Luton. “The feedback we got was, ‘Do it the English way’,” he says. “‘We don’t want leaflets. We just want somewhere where we can have a cup of tea and talk to someone.”’
The thinking was simple: an information hub in the centre of town to encourage dialogue and discussion about Islam and build bridges with the wider community.
In 2021, the housing charity Shelter revealed that Luton had the highest percentage of unhoused people in the UK outside of London. Nowhere is that more visible than in the town centre, where many sleep rough. In addition, nearly half of Luton’s children are growing up in poverty. Sadiq says that Discover Islam was inundated with visitors seeking support from day one.
“Seeing and hearing the daily struggles of our neighbours, we knew we had to do more. The best way to embody Islam is through acts of charity and service to the community,” he says, explaining how the centre’s charitable work began. He adds that Discover Islam takes no government grants and is funded entirely by the local community.
Discover Islam played a founding role in the community-wide Luton Food Bank. In 2012, local mosques collected more than 10,000 donated items and delivered them to the centre. The food bank now has its own dedicated building on York Street and continues to help hundreds of people each week. Another local charity, Level Trust, which helps families with school costs via initiatives such as a uniform exchange, was started by local churchgoers and initially housed in the Discover Islam centre. It now has a unit in the nearby mall.
Over the past few years, volunteers have realised that a significant overlap exists between both food and fuel poverty. The centre sees far greater demand for the Curry Kitchen in the winter months, when many service users say that they are faced with the choice of heating their homes or eating.
Volunteer Sujel Miah takes me to another of the centre’s rooms, filled with bags of clothes. As part of the Heat Luton campaign, Discover Islam works with service providers such as Age UK and the Affordable Warmth Scheme to provide fuel vouchers for prepayment energy meters, cost-effective electric heaters and winter clothing.
Miah and his colleagues meet people from all walks of life and encounter a variety of personal stories, including those of addiction and mental illness. Discover Islam offers a judgement-free environment, where clients can access advice, support and signposting to appropriate services. From keeping people warm during the winter months to providing breakfast to local children during the summer holidays, its work continues all year round.
“Our faith doesn’t teach us to close our doors,” says Miah.
Other faith groups are also working hard to improve the lives of Luton’s residents. In just three years, the local Sikh community has provided 20,000 meals via a regular Sunday soup kitchen. The food is cooked at the local gurdwara on Dallow Road, then distributed at a stall outside the town hall. The community recently began providing winter kits for people sleeping on the streets. Every Ramadan, Sikhs from the local gurdwara come to Bury Park — the heart of the local Muslim community — to provide dates and water for Muslims breaking their fast.
Meanwhile, the Christian charity NOAH has been supporting unhoused people in the town for the past 30 years, with a street outreach team to support rough sleepers and an emergency night shelter in the winter months.
According to Miah, the steady erosion of community resources — libraries, community centres, recreational spaces — has also left gaping holes in social infrastructure, which religious organisations are doing their best to fill.
“People are socially isolated,” says Miah. “They don’t feel seen or heard. Just having someone to talk to makes a difference.”
In a nation as wealthy as the UK, there is no excuse for the levels of poverty charities and volunteer groups will encounter this winter. Ideally, it should not be left to philanthropic concerns to fix problems created by years of government-imposed austerity. However, as the founders of Discover Islam knew from the start, the politics of division thrive on deprivation and despair. By helping people in need, such organisations are bringing us all together and showing what community really means.
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