Government announce grants package for self-employed, but it may not be ready till June

The Chancellor has today announced that self-employed people losing work over coronavirus will be handed emergency government grants worth 80% of their average income up to £2,500 a month.

The payments will be based on a self-employed person’s profits over the last one to three years and will be open to anyone with trading profits of up to £50,000.

It comes as ministers were under increasing pressure to offer the self-employed a package of support as has been provided for employees.

Rishi Sunak said he recognised people who work for themselves were “deeply anxious” as the spread of the virus shutdown businesses and said “you have not been forgotten, we will not leave you behind”.

Sunak said: “This scheme will be open to people across the UK for at least three months.

“And I will extend it for longer if necessary. You will be able to claim these grants and continue to do business.”

Sunak said the government can’t protect each job or every business, so the scheme will be only available to those who make the majority of their income from self-employment, so only the “genuinely self-employed” benefit.

“To minimise fraud, only those who are already in self-employment who have a tax return for 2019 will be able to apply,” he said.

“Ninety five percent of people who are majority self-employed will benefit from this scheme.

“HMRC are working on this urgently and expect people to be able to access this scheme no later from the beginning of June.”

Those eligible will be contacted by HMRC and the money will be paid into their bank accounts in one lump sum.

Anyone who missed January’s filing deadline will have four weeks to submit their tax return, but anyone who has been self-employed for less than a year and does not have 12 months’ worth of accounts to submit will be unable to access the scheme

The chancellor said the reason for this was because it would be too administratively complicated and too open to fraud to extend it to them.

While the announcement may provide some relief for self-employed, the scheme won’t actually be available till June.

More information can be obtained by logging on to www.businessupport.gov.uk 

Asian Sunday Investigates: Asian Supermarket Price Hikes.

By FATIMA PATEL

Supermarket shelves are empty, and social media is littered with people slamming businesses for hiking their prices and taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak.

Some posts have gone as far as claiming that Asian supermarkets have been fined thousands of pounds by Trading Standards. Many are also calling for boycotts of the stores who they believe have taken advantage.

So, what is the truth? Are people being ‘ripped’ off and taken advantage of during challenging times? Or have prices in the supply chain really gone up, that retailers must pass on to the consumer?

Is the consumer being taken advantage of during the coronavirus pandemic?

Are retailers selling at inflated prices?

Asian Sunday Investigates

The majority of the complaints sent by Asian Sunday readers seem to focus around halal meat at the Asian supermarkets, so this report primarily focuses on the cost of halal meat and poultry. Our Editor Fatima Patel chose to visit six of Bradford’s leading and established Asian supermarkets. They are Haqs in Listerhills (now under new management believed to be Kanapeena), Saveco Supermarket in Thornbury, Pakeezah Supermarket off Leeds Road, Al-Halal (Worldwide) supermarket on Shearbridge Road and Manchester Superstore on Planetrees Road.

First stop on Friday evening 20 March started with Al-Halal supermarket. The place was heaving as expected, with some shelves looking empty, however all the fruit and vegetable areas were fully stocked as was the fridge with milk yoghurt and butter.

The meat and chicken counters had queues of people too, and supply also seemed decently available. The meat and chicken counter had pricing clearly labelled, with lamb leg/shoulder at £10.99 per kg, Sheep mix at £6.99 per kg, Sheep Chops at £7.99 per kg and chicken boneless leg at £4.99 per kg. Manchester Superstore, Pakeezah supermarket, Kanapeena and Saveco were not far behind on these prices. Some were slightly higher due to the nature of whether the meat and poultry was HMC certified or not and perhaps also due to the quality of cut.

Even the Halal counter at Tesco on Great Horton Road was selling their Halal lamb shoulder at £11.50 per kilo. So clearly prices had increased across the board with retailers.

Meat prices at Worldwide supermarket

The main and perhaps the only Halal meat wholesaler in the north of England is Yorkshire Halal Meats. In a statement they said that as a result of high demand due to the coronavirus outbreak meat prices have invariably had to go up.

Meat traders claim that there are many factors why the price of meat has risen exponentially. To start with its lambing season, which means generally there is less lamb from January till around May time, resulting in peak lamb prices. To add to this due to the coronavirus outbreak this has increased demand for meat

Farmers Weekly reports that ‘frantic buying at livestock markets amid the coronavirus has seen new-season lambs hit 300p/kg, with national averages up £32 a head on the year.’

Their article dated 18 March states that ‘old-season lamb SQQs rose to 251p/kg on Monday – up more than 50p/kg on the year – and a small entry of new-season lambs averaged 295p/kg.’

However, the article also says that auctioneers believe high prices could be short-lived once people have filled up their freezers.

One retailer who didn’t want to be named said: “Retailers can’t shop around as they are being held to ransom by wholesalers.”

In respect to poultry suppliers, Gafoor Poultry are said to be the largest suppliers and for most of our retailers the only wholesale suppliers of halal poultry in the north of England. Asian Sunday tried to contact Gafoor Poultry, but no one was available for comment.

On 17 March however a Blackburn based Asian newspaper quoted Gafoor Poultry as saying that they “are not increasing any prices.”

The newspaper reported that they had ‘quelled rumours, that the price of chicken had gone up and confirmed to the paper stating, “Nobody is trying to take advantage of anyone due to the coronavirus. We want to support the community.”

Asian Sunday was shown a letter dated 18 March, sent by Gafoor Poultry to their customers, informing them that ‘prices have increased sharply in the last week and are expected to rise further due to uncertainty in world markets with weakening  exchange rates due to coronavirus developments.’

It was clear from the invoices seen by Asian Sunday that wholesalers had increased prices and as a result many of the supermarkets had to pass the increases on.

Saveco said in a statement: “Like many companies, we are facing many unprecedented challenges, such as interruptions in our supply line, shortage of stocks, etc.”

“Wherever possible we will not be raising our prices to take advantage of this unprecedented situation in the event that prices have been raised drastically by our supply chain and where we see no viable alternative, you may see an increase in price on some products but we will try to keep this at a minimum and only where absolutely necessary.”

Saveco showed Asian Sunday recent purchase invoices from wholesalers for meat, poultry and fruit and veg purchases, which clearly demonstrated the price rises.

Worldwide Foods, also known as Al-Halal supermarket had a similar view. A spokesperson for the retailer told Asian Sunday: “People are rightly upset and angry about the rise in prices, but so are we, as we too have been affected with price increases from our suppliers, but what can we do, we need stock and sadly have to pass the price on.”

On being questioned about why prices in the four mainstream supermarkets have been able to fix their prices, while ethnic retailers have not the Asian retailer said: “This is because suppliers for multibillion corporations are generally tied to long-term contracts at fixed prices while we are considered ‘spot buyers’.

Yoghurt, milk and butter in plenty of stock at Asian Supermarkets

“While this has given us the ability to maneuver and stock groceries at bargain prices for more than 30 years in operation, it also means that at times of crisis, we can be handicapped with products being sold at the market value or more when stock is nowhere else to be found.”

Social media was also rife with news that supermarkets had been fined by Trading Standards.

Al-Halal was listed as being fined £30,000 by one post and £10,000 by another. Al-Halal spokesperson said: “We complied with trading authorities on 17 March at our head office and left them satisfied by producing invoices and valid documentations from suppliers establishing our sincerity and transparency. Worldwide Foods is trying to absorb the rising costs as much as possible, as the virus and shutdown of Europe takes its toll.”

Trading Standards have not issued any statements or releases confirming fines on supermarkets and Asian Sunday will continue to follow up for a comment.

It’s doesn’t take much to conclude that both retailers and wholesalers have had price increases and as a result this has been passed down to the consumer. However, there is no clear answer as to whether the consumer is being over charged and taken advantage of during covid-19 outbreak.

What is important to note though is that meat and poultry prices are constantly changing and the retail outlets we are buying from may well have bought at a different time to another resulting in varying prices. One business may also be run more efficiently with lower overheads and operating costs than the other. There are many factors to consider.

Many trader news outlets suggest that we should reasonably expect prices to be about 20-50 per cent higher than normal and that this should only remain the case for the next week or so if consumers start buying at their normal rate and not continue to panic buy.

If consumers do feel that prices are unnecessarily inflated then they can report the business to the Competition & Markets Authority who will carry out a detailed assessment and naturally if proven then the business will be named and fined, and reported in the media.

Asian Sunday urges its readers not to panic buy. Consumer buying patterns can also dictate prices, and panic-buying and hoarding creates a reaction within the supply chain leading to price changes, so panic buying should be stopped immediately.

According to reports there is now over a billion pounds more food in households than in shops and so it’s vital during such times that we do not waste any of those purchases and put them to good use.

We waste on average about one-third of food produced for human consumption globally, and each family wastes around £470 per year on food. Let’s hope our bins don’t go full of, waste food over the next few weeks.

To conclude, among the wholesalers, retailers and consumers, no one seems to be winning against the Covid-19 virus and challenges are being faced by ALL. Which means there is only one thing that needs to be said here – we are all in this TOGETHER.

Coronavirus: Schools Across UK to Shut Down From Friday Until Further Notice

Schools across England will be shut down from Friday until further notice as the coronavirus crisis deteriorates, the government has announced.

The move was unveiled by education secretary Gavin Williamson where Friday will be the last day of normal lessons.

However, powers in emergency legislation – to be passed by the Commons within days – will allow ministers to force some schools to remain open, for the children of essential workers.

It means some youngsters will go to different schools, if their own has been shut down, relieving their parents of childcare responsibilities if they are needed to fight the outbreak.

At a Downing Street conference Boris Johnson said schools would not be shut for children of those in crucial jobs such as police officers, delivery drivers and medical staff, but it is not yet clear how this exception will be implemented. The Prime Minister said the Government would ask nurseries and private schools to comply with the measure, which will see exams cancelled for this academic year. Westminster’s top scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the decision was not being taken because Covid-19 is dangerous to children, but because it is an extra step to stop more at-risk people being infected.

He stressed that mums and dads should avoid leaving their children at home with older relatives ‘who may be particularly vulnerable’. The Government vows to provide financial support to families with children on free school meals who may face extra costs as a result of the move, but concerns remain about how parents who have to go to work will be able to handle the change.

Speaking to colleagues in the Commons today Williamson said: ‘I want to provide parents, students and staff with the certainty they need. After schools shut their gates on Friday afternoon they will remain closed until further notice. This will be for all children except to those of key workers and where children who are most vulnerable.’ ‘I know the situation has become increasingly challenging. I’ve said before that if the science and the advice changed, such that keeping schools open would no longer be in the best interest of children and teachers, that we would act – we are now at that stage.

‘The spike of the virus is increasing at a faster pace than anticipated and it is crucial that we continue to consider the right measures to arrest this increase and to relieve the pressure on the health system.

‘The public health benefits of schools remaining open as normal are shifting. It is also clear that schools are increasingly finding it more difficult to continue as normal as illness and self-isolation impacts on staffing levels and pupil attendance. ‘The scientific advice shows that these settings are safe for this small number of children to continue attending. But asking others to stay away will just go towards helping us slow the spread of this virus.

‘My department is working closely with local authorities, representatives of early years schools and headteachers, regional schools, commissioners and bodies such as Ofsted and Ofqual about how to deliver this change as effectively as possible. ‘And we will do whatever is necessary to support local authorities, schools and teachers through the weeks and months ahead.’

Business facing COVID-19 Lock Down? Free tools to help unexpected Virtual Leaders Build Trust & Innovate

By RICHARD DAVIES

Richard Davies is a Coach and a Consultant – with two different areas of focus. As a coach, he helps senior leaders rebrand themselves to land a portfolio / non-executive director career. As a consultant, he helps improve the performance of Virtual Teams. You can contact Richard at richard@gpsgoaltrak.org

He gives Asian Sunday business readers his advice on business continuation during the COVID-19 lock down

COVID-19 is about to change the working environment for thousands of people. As offices go on lockdown – people will have to work from home. In some cases, organisations will have to switch to virtual working overnight. In this article, I share some practical tools to help leaders build trust and innovate virtually.

Leaders will need to adapt to the challenge of managing distributed teams.

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Leaders can’t rely on the conversations in the corridor, or brainstorm sessions in meeting rooms. The virtual manager can’t manage by walking around. ‘Command and control’ at a distance is impossible; they are going to have to trust the members of their team to solve problems, think creatively, and take the initiative when opportunities come up. If they wait for the manager to give them instructions every time they need to make a decision; this spells trouble.

The Challenges Facing Virtual Leaders

  • Virtual team members often feel isolated and demotivated. There’s never enough time to explain their environment and challenges to the boss.
  • People are easily side-tracked – especially in Virtual teams where the local environment introduces competing priorities and distractions
  • Trust levels in virtual teams tend to be lower than in teams that sit together.

The Importance of Trust

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Some say that the only factor necessary to create efficient virtual teams is to buy the right technology. This is not true since it’s all about the people, and it ultimately comes down to trust.

Building trust is the foundation for effective virtual teams. Having led virtual teams for 15 years in my corporate career, I found that trust reduces the distance between the leader and team. It took me a while to realise this important fact. The closer the connection forged between people and purpose, the higher the potential for powerful performance.

In virtual teams, the ability to trust individuals to ‘do the right thing’ – especially when supervision is impracticable is critical. A virtual leader must establish the high trust relationships that will underpin the alignment of goals, the clarification of responsibilities and the winning of commitment.

It gets even more challenging.

Businesses will also need to become ever more innovative to meet the challenges of the next few months.

It’s a double whammy.

The Need for Rapid Innovation to meet the Challenges created by Coronavirus

The urgent need to adapt to new ways of working calls for rapid Innovation. What do I mean by Innovation? I covered this topic in a post earlier this year, which you can catch here: https://bit.ly/3aSWS1N 

In short, Innovation occurs at many levels. It can be a new process, a novel way of marketing, or an everyday improvement to make things simpler or more affordable. It does not need to be a radically new product or service. The reality is that businesses will need to implement innovations at multiple levels at the same time as having their workforce fragmented.

How can we make Innovation Happen in a Virtual World?

The Key to virtual Innovation is to create a high trust culture that values and therefore enables thinking or cognitive diversity. I have found the below framework useful – it comes from Axiometrics. This framework is based upon Robert S Hartman’s work that established 3 Dimension of Value – for which he received a nomination for a Nobel Prize. His field is known as formal axiology from which Axiometrics has been developed. If you’d like to find out more, below is the link to an article I wrote last year.

https://bit.ly/2TP9a5s

Trust Tool

It is essential to have balance in your activities across People, Task and System. For example, if you find that you are too Task focussed and neglect People and System, you will not build trust. Check that you are practising the points in the strengths column and not slipping into the behaviours in the toxic column.

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Innovation Leadership Skills Tool

I want to end with a practical tool to help all the unexpected Virtual Leaders develop their Innovation Leadership Skills. It’s a quick and dirty self-assessment exercise they conduct do under the below three areas. From the self-assessment, they will identify areas to work on to improve their Innovation Leadership Skills. Click below to see the full tool.

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Full tool can be found here: https://www.catapult-solutions.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200309-Innovation-Leadership-Skills-Individual.pdf

You won’t be required to provide any personal information to download the tool. I want to thank Catapult Solutions (https://www.catapult-solutions.co.uk/) and Andrea Burns, who has given us all open access to the pdf templates, which are under Axiometrics International © Copywrite. Please note, this is not the actual report which those that have taken the Axiometrics profile receive.

It’s time to wrap up this article

  • The Axiometrics online “thinking” exercise only takes 15 minutes to complete
  • You rearrange two sets of 18 statements – from most to least preferred
  • There are no questions
  • There are 6.4 quadrillion possible outcomes
  • There are over 85 different types of report and profiles
  • It does not attempt to classify you or label you as a ‘type’ e.g. ENTJ or Dominant
  • Is not discriminatory for age, sex, creed or culture and is validated by the EEOC
  • It can be used to look at current performance, but also to predict future performance
  • Has applications across the entire talent lifecycle, e.g., Recruitment, Personal and Professional Development, Retention, Succession Planning, Team-working
  • It can inform training needs analysis and the design of training and coaching focus
  • Rigorously define and measure decision-capacities against a culture benchmark

I hope you found this interesting. Please let me know what you think. If you ‘like’ or comment on this article, I’ll send you the excel versions of the tool which will be more user-friendly for you to use. If you would like a more accurate and objective understanding of how to build trust in virtual teams and assess Leadership Innovation skills, I’d be pleased to have a conversation to share more about my experience of leading virtual teams and the application of Axiometrics.

Bradford Teenager Dispels Myth of Asian Boy Racers by Opening a Unique Snack Outlet

The common stereotypes of young Asian Muslim men in Bradford is that of boy racers, street gangs or turning to drugs.

TV Programs like ‘Hometown A Killing’ and ‘Lost Boys’ continue to feed into this narrative, but one young man wants to prove that, that’s not the reality of young Pakistani men in Bradford.

Fifteen-year-old Ibrahim Ai invited Asian Sunday to his brand-new store opening, based on Thornton Road in Bradford. The teenager is ambitious and wants to prove that Bradford’s young Asian men are hard-working and have an entrepreneurial side that’s never spoken about or highlighted.

From an early age Ibrahim has seen his father, Hasan Ali work hard and build a career in retail, with his most successful retail brand The Bazaar over the last decade. Ibrahim spent many evenings and weekends watching his mother and father graft away in retail both managing other market traders and their own café and market stall. Inspired by their work ethos and success, Ibrahim decided to start his own entrepreneurial journey.

The Titus Salt student wanted to own his own retail snack shop with a difference.  He began following trends on social media site Instagram and there developed his spark for establishing his own snack shop – Snacks R Us

Snacks R Us offers a wide range of snacks and confectionery that is not commonly available on the high street. Items such as a large bag of Cheetos Flamin Hot, breakfast cereals like Oreo cereal, strawberry Krispies and Reese’s puffs and a large range of soft drinks such as Chuppa Chupps, Millions, Mountain Dew along with the very popular Chocomel are available at the shop. These can be purchased on a retail or wholesale basis.

Ibrahim was lucky he didn’t have to go far for investment, as both his parents loved his business plan and agreed to not only offer him some capital, but even provided their family owned retail premises, (which used to be a fabric store run by Hasan’s mum) to base his business from. In fact, the entire family is so proud of Ibrahim’s initiative that Ibrahim’s grandma (Hasan’s mum) also offered some investment for the business.

Loaded with the perfect investment and location, Ibrahim was further supported by his friends, who volunteered and help clean the place, and stack the shelves.

The only question was, how does a teenager juggle running the business alongside his studies, especially as he will be doing his GCSE’s this year.

“I work during weekends and most evenings, all other days my aunty helps to run the business, so that it doesn’t affect my studies” said Ibrahim.

Ibrahim’s family and friends have really got behind him, to help make his vision a success.

“The response has been great so far, as everyone has come forward to offer their help and help me make Snacks R Us a huge success. Ibrahim told Asian Sunday

“Some of my dad’s friends who have their own wholesale business have come forward to help out and get me the best deals, so I can offer them to my customers.”

“Having this business will make me more responsible and hopefully give me focus in life. I think my friends are also very excited at my venture and having them supporting me means, we all have something more meaningful to work for in our spare time, rather than be hanging out with the wrong crowds.”

“I want to be an example to other young Asian boys by showing that working hard is important and not only help set a good example for young Pakistani Muslim boys, but it will also be good for my future and my family.

Ibrahim’s father, Hasan Ali said: “This was all his idea, his mum and I simply supported him with some financial backing. My mother is also very proud of Ibrahim and is supporting him in a generous way.

“I am really proud though that my son is now running his business in the same premises that my mum ran her fabric business from. As a young child I remember spending my time in this shop helping my mum and now I will be spending some time here helping my son.”

Asian Sunday wishes young Ibrahim and his new venture Snacks R Us all the best for the future.

Snacks R Us is open Mon – Friday 7am – 8pm, Saturdays 12noon – 8pm and can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

 

Regal Foods unveil new look for their online services

Popular world foods producer Regal Food is revealing a new design for its online shop. The family-run business started out as a supplier for Yorkshire corner shops; it focused on foods popular with the UK’s South Asian community, before expanding into World Food brands. The new e-commerce website is the first part of the company’s ambitious business plans for 2020 growth.

Regal contacted Leeds marketing agency Electric to create a new website; it needed to be a fit for purpose new e-commerce site which uses modern design and makes it easy for customers to buy products like Regal’s famous Bombay Mix and Cake Rusks in a few clicks. It also allows Regal to run promotions around key events like Diwali and Ramadan. All of these features play a key part in the company’s growth plans.

“We’re very pleased with our new website, and very excited about the new business opportunities it offers us”, said Waqar Younis, Sales Director for Regal Food Products.

“We’ve got big business goals for 2020, which are still under wraps at this time. However, this new website is the first step towards fulfilling our new vision for the company. It allows us to dial up our presence in the gifting market—and to raise awareness of our broad World Food brands range—while still championing our South Asian favourites. We know people want to find their favourite foods as easily as possible, and are open to being inspired along the way. We hope our customers find our new website easier than ever to use, and that they enjoy the new promotions and product ranges we now offer. And we also can’t wait to reveal the next stages of our 2020 business plans.”

The new Shop at Regal website can be viewed here: https://www.shopatregal.com

A staggering £150k raised for chairty at the 19th Annual Asian Achievers Awards

The winners of the prestigious nineteenth annual Asian Achievers Awards were revealed in another glamorous ceremony on Friday  6, September at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, onPark Lane.

Winners included, BBC News Economics Editor, Faisal Islam for Achievement in Media, Arts & Culture; Woman of the Year, Neeta Patel, CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation; and Harjit Singh Bhania, head coach of the men’s GB wheelchair basketball team for Sports Personality of the Year. The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award went to philanthropist business tycoon, Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Resources, while London Deputy Mayor, Rajesh Agrawal received the Editor’s Award for Public Services.

Hosts, actor Nitin Ganatra and Nisha Parmar, semi-finalist of BBC’s Masterchef UK, were joined by business tycoons, entrepreneurs and dignitaries, including Jeffery Archer, whose skilful auctioneering helped to raise a staggering £150,000 for this year’s chosen charity Yuva Unstoppable, a youth movement in India that works towards educating underprivileged children.

Mr. CB Patel, Publisher/Editor, ABPL Group says:This year our theme is inclusivity. As you know inclusivity is not just about diversity, but about being inclusive of everyone. That’s why we have so many shortlisted candidates this year from the LGBTQ community. Today historically, it also completes one year of decriminalisation of homosexuality in India.

“Societal exclusion, identity seclusion and isolation from the society are still the stark realities faced by many individuals, and for Asians it’s even harder. So, our job as always, is to set an example, not only through our publications of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, but especially through today’s Asian Achievers Awards – campaigning for individual liberation and rewarding people for striving so hard against any odds. 

“And in our effort to do so, I must thank the inputs from all our readers and supporters for nominating such outstanding candidates and our independent panel of judges who did their job so brilliantly. I would like to congratulate all the winners of our 19thannual Asian Achievers Awards. Their remarkable contributions to society and community have had a profound impact and I take great pride in highlighting their accomplishments.”

The Asian Achievers Awards sponsors include EY, Starling Bank and Edwardian Hotels, with Colors TV on board as Media Partner.

The full list of winners are:

WinnerCategory
  
Onkardeep SinghAchievement in Community Services

 

Faisal IslamAchievement in Media, Arts & Culture

 

Vipul VaderaBusinessperson of the Year

 

Kush KanodiaEntrepreneur of the Year

 

Krishna OmkarProfessional of the Year

 

Harjit Singh BhaniaSports Personality of the Year

 

Hafsa QureshiUniformed, Civil and Public Services

 

Neeta PatelWomen of the Year

 

Anil AgarwalLifetime Achievement Award

 

Rajesh Agrawal, London Deputy MayorEditor’s Award for Public Services
Dr. Nilesh U Patel MDEditor’s Award for Contribution to Thoracic Surgery

 

Pradip DhamechaEditor’s Choice Award for Community Service, Philanthropy and Entrepreneurship

 

Awards Galore For Restaurant Celebrating 17 Years

Britons have had a taste for curry since the 1800’s with tikka masala being Britain’s top dish for more than a decade. Brits love for curry has been the reason of success for many of Britain’s curry houses, but success for Bradford’s very own My Lahore, who celebrated 17 glorious years in business this year, has been more than just curry.

The family owned team at My Lahore have just gone and done it again, by scooping the Best Pakistani restaurant of the year at the nineth annual English Curry Awards 2019, beating hundreds of nominations from across the country.

Accolades for this British Kitchen just keep on coming as this is now their fifth award this year, having already won Bradford Curry Awards Best Restaurant People’s Choice, and Best Outdoor Caterers, Best Asian Restaurant Yorkshire at the Asian Restaurant Awards and Best wedding caterer of the year at Britains Asian Wedding Awards.

My Lahore started as Lahore Café in 2002, but CEO Asghar Ali and his partner and cousin Shakoor Ahmed, started their love affair with food decades earlier.

As children growing up in Yorkshire, Asghar and Shakoor were brought up on a plethora of dishes from traditional curries to chicken burgers to lasagnes, to pastas and stir-fry’s. This also included a unique love affair for school puddings, which was made trendy when My Lahore launched ‘back to school puddings’ on their menu in early 2000.

Influenced by the pioneering spirit, and humble nature of their parents and grandparents Asghar and Shakoor wanted to nurture their own family favourites in their business and so took a huge risk when they decided they would move away from being a traditional curry house and (along with curries and the now famous back to school puddings), chose to add lasagne, pasta, burgers, steaks and stir-fry’s to their menu.

Thus, the British Asian Kitchen was born and was been hugely popular among students and families alike. Is it any wonder the eatery is sweeping most of the food awards across the country!

Batley Plaza Set To Turbo Charge Areas Regeneration

By GRAHAME ANDERSON

New life is set to regenerate the centre of Batley as work nears completion on a modern 29,000 square foot retail and food development on Alfred’s Way.

From July, the former Batley Shopping Centre will become ‘The Batley Plaza’, offering 24 modern units and a positive future to what for the past five years has been a run down and unoccupied space. In fact, the 40-year-old site has been completely redesigned in the hope of attracting both locals and tourists back to both Alfred’s Way and Commercial Street.

A 21st Century Look

The entrance has been totally reconstructed. Shoppers will also be able to enjoy a unique ‘Street Food’, area offering a vast range of tasty delicacies. There will be a revamped entrance and signage on Commercial Street, and a striking new stairway and lift has been created on Alfred’s Way to provide easy access to the retail units from the area around the Tesco and Iceland stores.

The new Plaza will also house an impressive café and three different sizes of unit – aimed at those just starting out in business, those looking for their first premises and established businesses ready for expansion. There’s a full package of support available – all businesses need do is pay the rent. In fact, there’s a real confidence all of the units will be taken up by businesses based up and down the country.

Caring Investor

The project has become a labour of love for top businessman Zahid Iqbal and his company Z & F Properties Ltd, responsible for the purpose-built ‘Bradford Plaza’ shopping complex in Thornbury six years

ago. He’s passionate about recreating this recent success in Batley as he explained: to go in here.

Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin enthused: “I’m a huge advocate for shopping locally so it’s encouraging to see that a space that has sat empty for so long is being brought back to life.”

Struggling High Streets

The growth of out of town retail parks combined with the internet shopping trend has had a marked effect on high streets up and down the country. Batley has suffered more than most however.

The first shop to open on Alfred’s Way was also the last to close earlier this year. Candyman Newsagents was run for 33 years by the popular Dennis Fisher, who at one time owned six shops across the area including two in Dewsbury. The 82-year-old decided to retire after serving the community for more than 40 years. His daughter Karen Lawson said: “It has been sad to see all the shops close one by one over the years. Batley Shopping Centre had become a white elephant in the town. It is really sad to be announcing we are closing but it is an inevitable part of life.”

Council Support

Leader of Kirklees Council Shabir Pandor told Asian Sunday: “ I am passionate about Batley & Its People and always look at finding ways to put Batley First.Batley has proven time and time again it’s a great place to invest and I was really please to meet Zaid and talk through his plans for Alfreds Way.

“The investment from businessman Zaid Iqbal is welcoming, exciting and his plans link into my vision on how Batley is at cutting edge of how it can regenerate and become a magnet for economic and social regeneration. This is a prime example of how private enterprise can work with the public sector. I am delighted we were able to help facilitate his plans to open a shopping plaza which will not only create jobs, but also see a huge boost in tourism which can only benefit our local economy and the fabric of our town.

“I’ve been to visit the site recently and I am really impressed with how things are shaping up and the brands already signed up to take up occupancy in the plaza. I am particularly looking forward to seeing development of the Street Food offering the Plaza will bring. It’s going to be a wonderful addition to the Batley community and surrounding areas.”

On the Way Up

A recent survey has shown Batley is one of the leading towns in England in terms of economic growth. Given other councils such as Doncaster are investing millions into establishing a trendy street food scene, Kirklees council are fortunate to have found an investor willing to put his own money into the area, creating jobs and a vibrant community.

Business Boost

Batley Business Association chairman Andrew Marsden, who works for Brearley Solicitors told me: “In truth when I first came to the area 27 years ago there were a few unused units in the shopping centre even then. So, the truth is this has been a long-term problem. Austerity, changing shopping habits and a changing word have all contributed. I got my first mortgage at The Halifax, based at the time within the shopping centre.

“Batley Vintage day helps bring people into the town from far afield. We need to capture visitors at any time of course, but as far as I’m aware there’s no sustained tourism drive going on. Mind you, we have excellent evening entertainment and eateries here now which will help bring others in from outside of the town.

“We have a huge Tesco in the area which certainly took people away from the shopping complex when it arrived. As you need to give people what they want, it’ll be good to see compact and viable units providing something away from the mainstream. If we can get people who regularly shop at Tesco to come and get other things at Batley Plaza, the future will certainly look promising.

“The development will succeed because of ‘the stubborn determination of the Batley community’, We don’t give up”.

Community Winning the Day

It seems both the locals and local businesses are buying into the project together showing a strong sense of community. This will help its success, as Mr Iqbal is also investing a substantial amount of money to regenerate the former Tesco and surrounding shops on Commercial Street.

“I am really excited about coming to Batley, it’s a town which has great potential and is extremely welcoming.

I am confident that the Batley Plaza will be one of my best developments for me so far, offering a quality shopping experience for the local community and hopefully encouraging others from outside of the city to come and visit too”

British Airways Celebrates Centenary with Heritage liveries

British Airways is marking it’s 100 years of service and to mark the occasion it is launching a series of heritage liveries.

Following the success of their first heritage livery – a 747 in British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) colours, which touched down at Heathrow on Monday, BA has today revealed the second design in its series of heritage liveries  – an Airbus 319, which will be painted in the colours of the airline’s short-haul predecessor, British European Airways (BEA).

The A319, reg G-EUPJ, will enter the IAC paint bay at Shannon Airport this weekend where it will be repainted with the BEA livery which flew predominantly on domestic and European routes between 1959 and 1968. However, there will be a significant difference with the replica; the aircraft will have a grey upper wing, rather than the traditional red, to meet current wing paint reflectivity requirements.

It will return to Heathrow and enter service next month flying across the UK and Europe, with the design remaining on the aircraft until it retires next year. The aircraft can be followed using tracking website Flightradar24, which will feature a special image of the livery.

Alex Cruz, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, said: “There’s been plenty of speculation about our next heritage livery, so it’s great to finally be able to make this exciting announcement. BEA is an important part of our history, and many customers and colleagues will have fond memories flying on its aircraft. We’re sure this latest livery will bring back a flood of emotions and pride in not only British Airways, but the UK’s impressive history – and what better time to do that than in our centenary year as we celebrate our past and look to the future. I can’t wait to see this classic design taking back to the skies.”

Both the BEA and the BOAC heritage liveries are part of a special series to mark British Airways’ centenary, as the airline celebrates its past while looking to the future. More replica designs will be revealed in due course, while all new aircraft entering the fleet, including the A350, will continue to receive today’s Chatham Dockyard design.

In its centenary year British Airways is hosting a range of activities and events. As well as looking back, the airline is also hosting BA 2119 – a programme, which will lead the debate on the future of flying and explore the future of sustainable aviation fuels, the aviation careers of the future and the customer experience of the future.

The airline will be working with expert partners to identify BA’s 100 Great Britons; the people up and down the country who are currently shaping modern Britain, and of course, the year would not be complete without some special flying and moments for customers.

The centenary activity is taking place alongside the airline’s current five-year £6.5bn investment for customers. This includes the installation of the best quality WiFi and power in every seat, fitting 128 long-haul aircraft with new interiors and taking delivery of 72 new aircraft. The airline will also be introducing new Club World seat with direct aisle access later this year.