'It’s been a rough ride': Crisis for Curry Mile's legendary eateries as soaring costs send byriani bills sky-high

Rusholme's most famous stretch of road has been keeping Manchester fed for generations.

One of the city's most vibrant spots, there's always an exotic eatery open and ready to tantalise diners with some of the finest Indian cuisine going.

But all is not well on Manchester's Curry Mile.

Skyrocketing food, energy, and transport costs have some of the city's most illustrious curry houses worried over the future.

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One business owner even told the Manchester Evening News that he nearly ‘fell over’ on seeing wholesale fresh fruit prices.

Across the UK’s Indian restaurant sector, rising costs for ingredients like lamb, chicken, and mango chutney are eating into margins.

And on Rusholme’s world-famous curry mile, companies are feeling the pinch.

A ‘rough ride’ — with ‘worse’ to come

“We’re 14 percent up on costs. It’s been a rough ride,” Dr Nighat Awan OBE, who founded Shere Khan in 1987 explains.

“It’s not just Covid, it’s the EU, too. It’s all been masked by the pandemic. The VAT being low has helped us, that’s helped us with keeping going.”

A similar story can be found a few doors down at MyLahore. The bustling eatery is managed by Qasim Saddique.

“Food costs up by 12 percent — chicken and lamb especially,” he says, but warns worse is yet to come: “We’re going to have a 53 percent increase in energy by April.”

JD, from newly-opened Chit ‘n’ Chaat, adds: “We have only been open a couple of weeks. “It’s pretty bad. Vegetables and meat are going high. We could change the price.”

It’s not just restaurants that are hit by the surging costs — supermarkets are, too.

Manchester Superstore has queues at every till, and has had to recently increase some of the