Indian life in the United Kingdom: food, festivals and entertainment

The United Kingdom is home to 1,282,836 overseas Indians. Here is where to find Indian food, festivals and entertainment there. For the Indian embassy and NRI services, see NRI services in the United Kingdom.

Where to find Indian food and shops

In London: Southall's Broadway, Wembley's Ealing Road, Tooting, Harrow and Drummond Street by Euston station. Outside London: Leicester's Golden Mile on Belgrave Road, Birmingham's Soho Road in Handsworth, and Bradford. Indian restaurants are found in every British town. Long-established names include Govinda's in Soho, run by the Hare Krishna temple there since 1979, and the Chennai chains Saravanaa Bhavan and Sangeetha.

Festivals and celebrations

Leicester's Diwali celebrations on the Golden Mile are among the biggest outside India. The Mayor of London holds Diwali on the Square in Trafalgar Square most autumns (the 2026 event was cancelled because of storms), and Vaisakhi is celebrated in Trafalgar Square in spring.

Temples and culture

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, London, opened in 1995, was Europe's first traditional Hindu stone temple. The Nehru Centre, India's cultural centre in London, holds concerts, talks and exhibitions. New Indian films open in British cinemas in the same week as in India.

Overseas Indian figures: Ministry of External Affairs, as of January 2026.