Cathy Newman turned away from mosque on #VisitMyMosque day

The Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman has revealed how she was turned away by her local mosque in south London because it would not allow women inside.

The journalist, who was attempting to take part in Visit My Mosque day, tweeted on Sunday afternoon how she was “ushered” out of the South London Islamic Centre in Streatham, even though she had her head covered and was not wearing shoes.

Newman told the Guardian she believed it must have been a men-only mosque, but was not made aware of this at the time.

She tweeted later on Sunday that she was given a “wonderful warm welcome” at the nearby Hyderi Centre, also in Streatham, where she enjoyed tea and cake with other visitors.

Aslam Ijaz, chair of trustees at the South London Islamic Centre, which has a congregation of up to 1,500, said he apologised unreservedly to Newman for her experience on Sunday morning, and explained that email problems meant that the mosque was not aware of the open day until it was too late to ensure staff were prepared for visitors.

“There was nobody from the management or committee at the mosque that morning,” said Ijaz, who is also a founding member of Interfaith Lambeth. “The person who turned the journalist away must have been someone with no authority - a worshipper.

“About 60% of our group is Somali, many of whom do not speak any English, so I think there was confusion. I intend to take action and find out what exactly happened, but I would like to apologise to Cathy Newman for what happened.”

The Visit My Mosque event is a nationwide initiative organised by The Muslim Council of Britain, in order to “reach out to fellow Britons following tensions around terrorism”, the MCB’s website says.