![FabIndia outlet, Khan Market, New Delhi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/FabIndia_outlet%2C_Khan_Market%2C_New_Delhi.jpg)
Khan Market, is a shopping district and retail market in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
, India. It was established in 1951 by the newly constituted
Republic of India's Rehabilitation Ministry to give economic opportunities to refugees of the
Partition of India, especially those from the
North West Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followin ...
(NWFP), now
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
, a province in Pakistan. Many such refugees had arrived in the Delhi region. It is named after
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, also known as Dr. Khan Sahib, who was the Chief Minister of NWFP from 1945 to 1947, and who had helped many refugees to escape without harm. Khan was the elder brother of the Pashtun- and Indian-freedom activist
Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan ("Frontier Gandhi").
In 2019, Khan Market was rated as the world's 20th most expensive commercial street by
Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenues ...
.
History
![Middle lane, Khan Market, New Delhi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Middle_lane%2C_Khan_Market%2C_New_Delhi.jpg)
Established in 1951, the U-shaped, double-storey market complex originally had 154 shops and 74 flats on the first floor for shopkeepers.
Many of these shops were allocated as seed land to immigrants from the
North-West Frontier Province
The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...
after the
partition of India, Khan Market is named in honor of
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan , a
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
political and spiritual leader.
Nearby is Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi's first apartment complex, built in 1945, and designed by
Walter Sykes George
Walter Sykes George CBE, FRIBA, ARCA, FIIA, FIFA (1881–1962) was an English architect active in India during the first half of the 20th century, most known for being part of the team of architects who designed New Delhi, the new capital of In ...
and named after the grandfather of this enclave's most famous resident, writer
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write ''Train to Pakistan'' in 1956 (made ...
. George also designed, the Ambassador Hotel next door, built in 1945 in a mix of British and Art Deco style. The building is now a heritage property and the hotel has been taken over by the
Taj Vivanta chain.
Until the 1980s, all the flats on the first floor continued to serve as homes. Neighbourhood grocery stores and middle-class shops existed in the middle lane, despite the fact it catered most up to upmarket
Golf Links
A links is the oldest style of golf course, first developed in Scotland. Links courses are generally built on sandy coastland that offers a firmer playing surface than parkland and heathland courses.
The word "links" comes via the Scots langu ...
,
Sundar Nagar
Sundar Nagar (also spelled as Sundernagar) is a town and a municipal council in Mandi district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
Formerly it was a princely state, known as Suket.
History
Sunder Nagar was formerly the seat of pri ...
, and diplomatic crowd from
Chanakyapuri. Gradually, the real estate boom and expanding families of the first generation of occupants forced many families to move out. Thus these homes were sold and started being converted into shops. By the 2010s, only a few families were living in these two-room flats.
[
A 2011 ]Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois.
Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenues ...
survey ranked Khan Market as the world's 21st most expensive shopping street.[
]
Overview
Today it has grown to become one of the most expensive commercial real estate locations in the city. It has a wide variety of stores, including modern showrooms of most of well-known brands, silver jewellery stores, delicatessen
Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...
s, bookstores, paints and hardware stores, electronics, kitchenware, and fabric stores mingle with some of the better restaurants.
It is also famous for food including kebabs
Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish that originates from cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the category are popular around the wor ...
and gol guppe (a type of popular street food) and a retail market for lighting fixtures on the ground floor. There are several bookstores in the marketKhan Market
/ref>
Location
Khan Market is almost in the heart of the city, close to India Gate
The India Gate (formerly known as the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the B ...
. It is surrounded by residential complexes — government owned and private — including Golf Links, Lodhi Estate, Shahjahan Road, Pandara Road, Rabindra Nagar and Sujan Singh Park. Its environs are home to a significant number of bureaucrats from the central government (including some MPs from both the houses), and famous people like the satirist Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write ''Train to Pakistan'' in 1956 (made ...
. It is one of the greenest pockets of the city, very close to the famed Lodhi Gardens. Also in proximity are the India International Centre, the India Habitat Centre, offices of the World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
, and other organizations. Nearby the Khan Market are popular schools such as Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and The Raghubir Singh Junior Modern School.
Transport
It is serviced by the Khan Market
Khan Market, is a shopping district and retail market in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1951 by the newly constituted Republic of India's Rehabilitation Ministry to give economic opportunities to refugees of the Partition of India, es ...
underground station of the Delhi Metro
The Delhi Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Bahadurgarh and Ballabhgarh, in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of 10 colou ...
( Violet Line), which lies in front of the Taj Vivanta Hotel. There are four exits of the metro station namely Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 3 and Gate 4. The exit at Gate 4 leads to Khan Market.
See also
References
External links
Khan Market.com
Khan Market
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarke ...
{{commons category
1951 establishments in India
Bazaars in India
Retail markets in Delhi
Shopping districts and streets in India
Shopping malls established in 1951
Markets in India
Retail markets in India