As Muslims anticipate the holy month of Ramadan, London is set to host the world’s biggest showcase of Halal products, fashion and food this month.
Held on March 26-27, the much-anticipated London Muslim Shopping Festival will feature over 250 shopping stalls, a Halal food court, modest fashion live catwalk shows, exciting kids’ zone, plus many more attractions.
“I myself come from an events background and I’m from the Muslim community, I grew up next to a mosque and at the same time everyone was thrown into a western environment so finding the balance was tricky,” event director Waleed Jahangir told MyLondon.
“What I wanted to do was showcase the best of the community and culture through trade, economics and commerce.”
The two-day festival, back for its sixth year, is expected to have 20,000 people attending.
“The first year event was six years ago and we went straight into it, we had various celebrities over the years such as the Citizen Khan crew, then we grew from there and year on year out we’ve been doubling the rate of exhibitors and attendees,” Waleed continued.
“We started with around 5,000 and this year we’re expecting 20,000 people, we had to change venues from Olympia as we started off in a small hall then grew into biggest hall then outgrew it and came to Excel London.”
Successful Event
For six years now, the event has generated international attention from both consumers and traders and is forecasted to grow rapidly.
“With support from valued sponsors and partners, the purpose of the event is further highlighted to the target audience. This event is a must for any brand wanting to explore this emerging consumer market,” said a spokesperson for London Muslim Shopping Festival.
Five years ago, the inaugural event achieved a huge groundbreaking success in 2016 at the renowned Kensington Olympia London.
Formerly the London Muslim Lifestyle Show, the event has been renamed to highlight what tens of thousands of international guests love most.
The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England: 2,660,116 (4.3% of the population).
There were 1,012,823 Muslims reported in the 2011 census in the Greater London area.
In the 2011 census Office for National Statistics, the proportion of Muslims in London had risen to 12.4% of the population (21% of England’s Muslims). In the boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets, the percentages of Muslims were over 30%.