Brick Lane chef reveals fragility of Indian restaurant trade during lockdown and beyond

A chef from the East End fears for the future of the predominantly Bengali run 'Indian curry' trade. Covid-19 just made things worse for the industry.

A chef from the East End of London fears for the future of predominantly Bangladeshi run 'Indian curry'. Covid-19 just made things worse for the industry.

Atikur Rahman is a chef in Graam Bangla restaurant, Brick Lane. He reveals to BritBanglaCovid some of the challenges the curry sector is facing. The pandemic has just made things worse. 'Covid is killing us' he states.

Tourists are not visiting Brick Lane and mostly Bengali owned restaurants are feeling the stress of lockdown and it's financial cost. He emphasises that there is also a confusion with the Indian variant of Covid-19 with Bangladeshi owned restaurants because these restaurants are 'Indian restaurants'.

Younger Bangladeshi generations are also not interested in working hard to keep the sector moving forward due to late nights and long working hours. Hence he explains that this sector is short staffed.

Landlords, he emphases, are not interested in reducing the rent either whilst business revenue dwindles.

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