Crisis in curry houses as immigration rules are tightened

Facing the double whammy of restrictions on chefs from India and higher costs following Brexit, the plight of curry houses has come to symbolize political issues in Britain

off the menu: Some volunteers in Trafalgar Square, London, serving a lunch of vegetable curry to the public during an event in December 2009. PHOTO: AP

Oni Banurji, the owner of Roz Ana, an upmarket curry house in the London constituency of Richmond Park and North Kingston, had few problems recruiting staff when he set up his curry eight years ago, but with the government’s immigration regime tightening in recent years, things have become decidedly tougher. With fewer chefs from India and Bangladesh available to hire, the costs of recruiting them has gone up. Brexit has only made matters worse, with the price of some goods such as alcohol set to rise in the new year, following the collapse of the pound.

Effect of Brexit

And with curry houses such as Mr. Banurji’s relying heavily on Eastern European staff in the U.K. to work as front of house staff, a hard Brexit could make his situation even harder. “If we won’t be able to recruit front of house staff or kitchen staff, it’s the end of business.”

As Britain’s curry industry faces tough times — a Kingfisher Beer survey found that in the last 18 months, over 1,000 curry houses, or 13 per cent of the total, closed down — they’ve become an increasing part of the political debate in the country.

“It symbolises the ridiculous antipathy to the multicultural nature of our country,” says Paddy Ashdown, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats who visited Mr. Banurji’s restaurant on Tuesday, on the campaign trail with Sarah Olney. Ms. Olney is representing the party in a forthcoming by-election in the constituency, triggered by the resignation of Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith.

While Mr. Goldsmith is expected to win as an independent, polls have suggested that by focusing on national issues such as Brexit, the Liberal Democrats could make a big dent in his majority. “Zac Goldsmith resigned because of [plans to expand] Heathrow, but here in North Greenwich, it’s Brexit they feel strongly about and people are welcoming the opportunity to send a message that they are discontented with the way the government is heading,” said Ms. Olney, who believes Mr. Banurji’s experience resonates widely with the constituency’s inhabitants.

The position of curry houses has entered the media spotlight over the past few months. Firstly, curry houses came out strongly in favour of Brexit, with pledges from the Leave side that a tightening of rules for Europeans would give them more leeway for easing the rules for non-EU citizens.

“Its fundamentally unfair that there is one rule for Europeans and one rule for Commonwealth citizens,” says Enam Ali, editor of trade publication Spice Business , and founder of the British Curry Awards.

He remains hopeful that the government will ease immigration rules for them in the long term. Not all share his enthusiasm. Last week Pasha Khandaker, the president of the Bangladesh Caterers Association told the FinancialTimes he was “very disappointed” by the government whose immigration regime looked set to get even tougher.

While Mr. Ali’s experience and stance is markedly different to that of Mr. Banurji, he believes the attention accorded to the industry in the political debate is nothing new. “Curry houses are already very political. We play a kind of local community ambassador role. We are on every high street and our voice is related to that of the people.”