Curry house crisis as we get taste for big budget chains

IT was said to be our favourite dish – but it seems Scots have lost their appetite for chicken tikka masala.

We are increasingly shunning traditional curry houses, with several thousand now under threat of imminent closure due to lack of demand.

Experts say we are switching from Indian restaurants to budget chains such as Nando’s and World Buffet.

Curry houses (and Chinese takeaways) have also been hit by stricter immigration rules, which are making it increasingly difficult to recruit properly trained staff.

The scale of the crisis has seen Scotland’s largest and most famous curry restaurant chain being put up for sale – amid fears for many more.

Sanjay Majhu has put the Ashoka chain on the market, a decade after buying it from founder Charan Gill for £8million.

He has sold four of the 14 branches in the past year and said competition from larger chains and immigration rules has made the industry far less profitable.

Mr Majhu added: ‘It is getting harder to compete with things like that and it is not a market I want to be in any more.

‘That’s a big problem for Indian restaurants moving forward. They will have to find a way of creating the food without having the specialised skills, which they can’t get here.

‘I am finding it more difficult to staff Indian restaurants. We sold Edinburgh because it is getting harder to staff.

‘I do not see myself expanding into Indian restaurants any more. People like going to cheap restaurants. We don’t have the capability to compete with large businesses like that. Indian restaurants still do well but they’re up against a lot of competition. I hope to sell most of them.’

Industry leaders claim curbs on immigration mean thousands of Asians are now barred from coming to the UK to work and this has led to a shortage of chefs.

But the Home Office believes the jobs done by specialist catering staff in ‘ethnic’ restaurants do not need to be carried out by foreign workers and has scrapped the right of appeal for those refused a visa.

Foysul Choudhury, president of the Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs, which represents 500 curry house owners in Scotland, said: ‘The future is very dark. I have been advertising for staff for the last three months at the job centre without a single person making any inquiry.

‘We had a meeting last week and every member has employee issues. It is difficult to find local people who will work the unsocial hours, particularly at weekends.

‘I can see 25 to 30 per cent of businesses closing down in the next few years. The restaurant industry is suffering badly. It is becoming an impossible task.’

But some experts believe too many curry houses were set up and there is no longer enough trade to go round.

Pat Chapman, editor of the Cobra Good Curry guide, said: ‘There was a massive boom in Indian restaurants 25 years ago to the 10,000 we have today – and it may be we are now oversubscribed.

‘There has been a slowdown in curry consumption. The recession has had a big effect. People are cooking an Indian meal at home or ordering a takeaway rather than going for the full restaurant experience.’

‘The future is very dark’