Author Topic: Curry Houses  (Read 11044 times)

potblack

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2015, 09:36:46 PM »
Now that sounds like a good night Phil.

Phil

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2015, 11:06:20 PM »
Potblack

That was just a quiet night out.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

townie

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2015, 08:25:13 AM »
Can anyone remember if there was a curry house in corporation street opposite the 55 bus stop? Think I went in there or have I been dreaming.
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

pat11

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #14 on: July 27, 2015, 01:41:29 PM »
The first curry I tasted was at the Shah Bagh in Bristol Street, in the early 60's.  I had been to a disco at Smethwick Baths and when I came out was wondering how I was going to get home when the group offered me a lift.  They were Carl Wayne and the Vikings.  The guitarist Terry then asked if I'd like to join them for a curry.  I was apprehensive but enjoyed it straight away and was hooked.


The curry houses in those days always seem to have flock wallpaper usually in red and half curtained windows so you couldn't see in.
Kindness is the best feature

Miskin

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #15 on: September 16, 2015, 10:43:14 PM »
I remember the Shah Bagh really well, really good curry's or a He Man grill, remember them?
The route would be a few pints of rough in the Greyhound, then down to Bogarts or the Railway for a few and watch the band for a bit, or the Shoop if it was a Thursday.  shahg Bahg for a curry then round the corner to get plastered in the Ringway. Be sick then stagger back to Harborne. Happy days.

Silverpearlpod

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #16 on: November 07, 2015, 02:20:50 PM »
Hiya Miskin


we must have been (with the exception of the Ringway which was a bridge too far since my band days playing there when it was called the PINK elephant) on the same social whirl. I loved the [censored] Bhag, superb Rubies and no doubt about it. Jugs of lager on a Sunday night looking like water (except for the froth) to fool any possible intervention by the cops. They had that weird lighting in the place that made everything look pale green but it was good lager, they never stinted on that. All the musos I knew used to use the place and it was common to find myself sitting with a group of a dozen or more people. Fab. Ring of Fire the next day. Wonderful.


One night I took a mate(?) there. This was a big  mistake as the guy, acting the idiot, poured the pepper pot into our water jug. Really funny, man. I got caught taking this to the bog to rinse it out. Translation wasn't good as I tried to explain and we both got our tickets. I didn't go back for over two years. It's the small things isn't? I've resented the guy ever since. I now live on the south coast after a decade in London and nowhere I've ever been does a curry like our Midland ones. Not even the stuff around Brick Lane. On my last visit to Brum I noticed that the Bhag and all around seemed to have changed quite a bit. Forty years, etc. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. Those were great times in a great city and I'm sure the curry's still the best. La la. PS. Is Asim's still on the Lozells Road?

townie

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #17 on: November 07, 2015, 02:27:15 PM »
I remember the Shah Bagh really well, really good curry's or a He Man grill, remember them?
The route would be a few pints of rough in the Greyhound, then down to Bogarts or the Railway for a few and watch the band for a bit, or the Shoop if it was a Thursday.  shahg Bahg for a curry then round the corner to get plastered in the Ringway. Be sick then stagger back to Harborne. Happy days.

Miskin what year did you go to the Ringway? Go to Night clubs in Birmingham you will find Ringway.
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

aerosolarabic

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #18 on: March 11, 2017, 03:00:58 PM »
Hi All


I have just stumbled across this conversation about the early curry houses Shalimar, Shah Jahan and Johns Restaurant in Steakhouse Lane.   I have seen the pictures posted of some of those places here on this forum,i think it was someone called Phil.  I am doing a project that captures the history of Birmingham's curry story that will be exhibited at Birmingham Museum later this year.  I would absolutely love to feature some of those black and white pictures shared of the curry houses.  If anyone else has any other pictures outside or inside any of these restaurants I would be very grateful.   The two images shared here, I would really need a high resolution scan to include in our exhibition.


Also if anyone is willing to share their experiences of these early curry houses, I would love to feature them in the exhibition.  The accounts can be written, but even better if I could get an audio recording that would then be deposited into the city's archives at the library. 


Please do get in touch, as some of you have keys to unlocking this story I am excited to capture.


Please do either post here or email me at knightsoftheraj (at sign) soulcityarts.com

Phil

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #19 on: March 11, 2017, 03:52:40 PM »
Hi aerosolarabic

Welcome to our forum, sounds like an exiting project. I could probably supply you with higher resolution copies of any image I have posted on this forum, but there is a hitch. I cannot give you permission to reproduce them anywhere else,  as basically they do not belong to me. I have collected them over the years admittedly from sites and other places where no copyright restrictions were announced. On sites where there were such restrictions I have given the acknowledgement that was requested and all others I have posted them on the understanding that if a copyright complaint was received the offending image would be removed without question.

So as I cannot be a hundred per-cent sure that there is no copyright restriction on any of the images I have posted you would be reproducing them entirely at your own risk.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

aerosolarabic

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #20 on: March 11, 2017, 04:23:45 PM »
Hi Phil, [/size]


I'm so pleased to read your reply. I have excitedly been reading your comments about your experiences with indian restaurants in particular.  I would love to see more of these images you have.  Do you think you could email me?  I've been doing a lot of deeper level research into who owned these restaurants, how they came about, looking for family members of the owners, clientele who used them etc.  Its been a fascinating journey thats taking me far and wide tracing some of these people!


Would you be interested in sharing your experiences at all? If you are based in Birmingham, would love to get an audio recording that would then be included into the city's archives.  If not, then even just written accounts.


But am super keen to see these other pictures you have, and understood about the copyright issues, will have to think about how to approach that, but keen to have scans of them for now.


Also attached is some blurb about the project we are undertaking!

IzzyM

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Re: Curry Houses
« Reply #21 on: March 14, 2017, 12:49:18 PM »
 A big hello to all,
 
 My name is Izzy. I'm working alongside Mohammed Ali on the Knights of the Raj project. Already, your contributions have been wonderfully helpful.
 
 We are discovering new things all the time. These in turn are not simply helping us to find out about the development of Indian Restaurants, but have been illustrating our interconnected lives, spaces and communities. We have picked up information from outside the Asian/Bangladeshi community (most of the earliest restaurants were Bangladeshi - and for some time, it used to be said that 80% of all Indian Restaurants were Bangladeshi) that have been as important as what we have discovered inside - from snippets of stories to photographs.
 
We cannot progress or achieve the things we want to without that support, including from fellow heritage and history enthusiasts and experts on these forums.
 
Some of the restaurants were are interested in have already been listed but are worth mentioning again, alongside some new ones.
 
Shalimar
 Taj mahal
 Shah Jahan
 Jinnah Restaurant - Moseley Road
 
On the same spot as the Shah Jahan Indian Restaurant (before the Shah Jahan came into existence), which used to be at 119 Coleshill Street (in the area that is now the Aston University campus, Gosta Green), there used to the L’Orient Café between 1950 and 1960 (though it may have been called the Shah Jahan Café at some point during that period). And rather interestingly, between 1947 and /1950, at the same spot stood the British India Club (owned by an F. Rasul). In short, at 119 Coleshill Street*,
 
1947 – 1949/50, British India Club
1950 – 1960  L’Orient Café (though it may have been called the Shah Jahan even earlier, but street and business directories have been unclear).
c.1960 Shah Jahan Indian Restaurant
 
*It should be stressed that these properties/buildings no longer exist, though Coleshill Street remains – the area is now part of the Gosta Green campus, Aston University.
 
We are also hoping for memories and even photographs of John’s Restaurant and the Darjeeling on Steelhouse Lane.
 
Once again, the thoughts, stories and support we have received so far have been wonderfully helpful. But there is so much more we do need help with. We are trying to capture a story before it is perhaps extinguished by time as generations pass.
 
Please do get in touch, via this forum or via email izzy (at sign) soulcityarts.com
 
We look forward to hearing from you!
 
Many thanks and best wishes!
 
Izzy


 

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