Lockdown across the country due to Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on Britain’s £5 billion curry industry, which has suffered tremendously with numerous family-owned curry restaurants now fearing that they may struggle to reopen now that the restrictions have started to be lifted.
The cause of concern is real as industry groups have warned that since the lockdown has put restaurant owners under extreme pressure and at immense financial risk, curry houses may be forced to close down or operate only as takeaway services.
Owners of UK’s curry houses are trying various strategies to rise to the occasion of saving the beloved curry market – from restructuring their kitchens and menus to continuing to service customers through providers such as Deliveroo or their own websites to avoid delivery fee.
In Britain, curry houses have stood the test of time with financial crests and troughs through immigration issues, Brexit, changing culinary trends, and now trying to soften the blow of Covid-19 and social distancing. In almost every British town, one can find chicken tikka masala and chicken vindaloo, sometimes popularly referred to as the country’s national dishes.
BBC Bengali recently produced a short video on this issue and filmed it in London’s prominent Brick Lane, a one-stop destination for curry houses in London. Produced by Shakeel Anwar and Rebecca Henschke, and filmed and edited by Kevin Kim, this video addresses the looming fear in the hearts of loyal curry customers – that curry houses may not reopen now after lockdown.
Mitu Chowdhury, Secretary-General of Bangladesh Caterers Association, spoke to Asian Voice and shed light on the issue. BCA is lobbying with the local and central governments to protect the curry restaurants from incurring further heavy losses. So what measures have been taken by the government so far to ensure that curry restaurants do not have to shut shops permanently due to Covid-19? “The government offered local council grants and business bounce-back loans and this year you don’t have to pay the business rate [sic]”, Mitu told Asian Voice, and that this “had been a great help”.
As the £10 million fund was announced recently by the government to help small businesses in the tourist destinations of the UK, is it any of it allocated to the curry catering industry too? Mitu said: “It is too early right now, but even if it is [allocated], it can only be of small help as we need a strong regular customer base”. Mitu praised the customer community’s support throughout the lockdown.
As BCA represents over 12,000 curry restaurants in the UK, they had requested a reduction in consumption tax by the government on March 25th and are yet to receive a response. His message to Asian curry restaurants/takeaway owners in Britain at this moment is to “just ensure your staff and customers are safe” and to be up to date with latest advisories through the BCA and other sources.
