Plans for a large temple to service the 4,000 local Sikhs were made in 2000, and £1,000,000 was pledged by local residents towards the project. Further donations were made during the planning stages, bringing the eventual total to £11,000,000. The greater budget allowed plans to be expanded from a modest four-storey building into a 4,280 sq m structure. The project was handled primarily by local contractors. Plans for the temple were drawn up by the Kenilworth-based architectural firmMPC Partnership, and construction itself was handled by Leamington-based contractors AC Lloyd. Construction began in 2008, and was completed on Friday 18 September 2009 with a ceremonial handing-over of the keys to members of the Sikh congregation. Services began a month later, on Sunday 25 October 2009, following a procession by local faithful through the town and a consecration service on the temple grounds. It is widely rumoured that this is the largest Sikh Temple outside of India.
2016 conflict
In 2013 the BBC reported that Sikh weddings were often disrupted by protesters opposed to mixed faith marriages in gurdwaras. In 2014 the General Assembly of Sikh Council UK, a Sikh organisation that coexists with the Sikh Federation, which is said to be the largest UK Sikh organisation, passed guidelines declaring that temples are encouraged to ensure that both parties to an Anand Karaj wedding are Sikhs. On 11 September 2016 a group of protesters reported to be "in possession of bladed items" disrupted a mixed-faith wedding between a Sikh bride and a Hindu groom at Leamington Spa gurdwara, threatening and intimidating the people inside. A trustee of the temple described the protesters as "fanatical extremists". Authorised Firearms Officers responded to the scene, arresting 55 men, and seizing "a significant number of bladed weapons", all but one of which were kirpans, later determined to be ceremonial rather than functional. Gurdwara trustee Jaswat Videe said that the intruders were "absolutely wrong" to think that Sikhism prohibits interfaith marriage. The Sikh Council strongly opposes such mixed marriages.
