--- title: "The Ramadan Tent Project: How Open Iftars Welcomed Thousands" description: "In Ramadan 2025, the Ramadan Tent Project hosted free open iftars in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds — serving over 15,000 guests of every faith" url: https://globalprayertimes.org/blog/ramadan-tent-project-open-iftars-uk-2025/ source: Global Prayer Times --- # The Ramadan Tent Project: How Open Iftars Welcomed Thousands In Ramadan 2025, the Ramadan Tent Project hosted free open iftars in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds — serving over 15,000 guests of every faith Community · 18th March 2025 · 6 min read · Global Prayer Times Editorial Team The Ramadan Tent Project: How Open Iftars Welcomed Thousands Across the UK in 2025 In Ramadan 2025, the Ramadan Tent Project hosted free open iftars in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds — serving over 15,000 guests of every faith and background at public marquees beside major mosques and civic landmarks. Quick Answer In Ramadan 2025, the Ramadan Tent Project hosted free open iftars in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds — serving over 15,000 guests of every faith and background at public marquees beside major mosques and civic landmarks. The Ramadan Tent Project is a UK charity that sets up large marquees beside mosques and public spaces each Ramadan. — Global Prayer Times. The Ramadan Tent Project is a UK charity that sets up large marquees beside mosques and public spaces each Ramadan and invites anyone — Muslim or not — to break the fast together. In Ramadan 2025, the project ran open iftars in at least eight British cities, with flagship tents in London (Regent's Park Mosque), Birmingham (Central Mosque), Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, and Glasgow. Organisers reported serving more than 15,000 meals across the month, with nightly attendance often exceeding 400 guests per site on weekends. What happens at an open iftar Each evening, volunteers arrive hours before Maghrib to prepare dates, water, fruit, and hot meals — often biryani, rice dishes, lentil soup, and bread sourced from local Muslim caterers and donated by restaurants. Guests are seated at long communal tables under heated marquees. A short welcome explains Ramadan and fasting; non-Muslim guests are invited to ask questions. At the adhan, everyone breaks the fast together. The Ramadan Tent Project deliberately keeps entry free and ungated. No registration is required. Families, students, office workers, tourists, and homeless guests sit side by side. In 2025, project coordinators noted a sharp rise in first-time non-Muslim visitors — teachers bringing school groups, NHS staff after shifts, and neighbours who had never visited a mosque before. Volunteers and partners The tents rely on hundreds of volunteers per city: university Islamic societies, mosque youth groups, corporate Ramadan giving programmes, and interfaith networks. In 2025, several City Council offices co-sponsored tents in Birmingham and Manchester, providing permits, security liaison, and waste management. Local supermarkets donated dry goods; Muslim-owned wholesalers supplied rice and oil at reduced cost. London Regent's Park site: average 500 guests per night in the final ten days of Ramadan 2025 Birmingham Central Mosque marquee: joint programming with Near Neighbours and parish churches Leeds and Bradford: student volunteers from local universities ran children's activity corners Glasgow: tent hosted beside Glasgow Central Mosque with Scottish government community-funding support Why open iftars matter Open iftars turn Ramadan hospitality into a public good. For British Muslims, feeding others during the holy month is a spiritual duty; for guests unfamiliar with Islam, sharing a meal at sunset offers a warmer introduction than any brochure. Project founders describe the tent as a bridge — literally a covered space where difference is seated at the same table. Whoever provides food for a fasting person to break his fast will have a reward like his, without diminishing his reward in the slightest. — Jami at-Tirmidhi 807, graded Sahih Ramadan 2025 confirmed what organisers have seen for a decade: when food is free, the queue is diverse, and the welcome is genuine, communities grow closer without a single sermon needing to convert anyone. The tent comes down after Eid, but the friendships and school partnerships often continue year-round. 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