The loss that changed the Curry Mile forever - and the Punjabi grill that kept its customers 'addicted'

In the mid-90s on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, Sax Arshad and his brothers would throw water bombs at each other and the other kids in the street as their dad worked tirelessly behind the grill at Mughli’s. In-between each water fight, the kids would pop into one of the neighbouring shops or restaurants, fill their balloons back up with the nearest tap they could find and go for round two.

But today Sax says that those shops and the families behind them have all but gone - instead replaced by other families and business owners trying to make a name for themselves in the different Curry Mile that exists now. But whilst the neighbours may have changed, Mughli still stands strong.

“The idea when our dad first set the restaurant up was to have a late-night curry house available to students and people who worked late,” Sax, 44, tells the M.E.N. “It was during the heyday of the Curry Mile but there weren’t too many people doing that at the time who were offering something decent.”

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First opening in 1991, there is a reason why Mughli Charcoal Pit is still going 32 years later and it all lies in what it served on the plate. Whilst the menu may have gone through a few generational changes here and there - introducing the likes of street food and small plates - it has stayed pretty much the same.

Sax with his brothers Haz, Shaz and Wass, who primarily fronts up the business these days, took over Mughli from their father, still known to pretty much everyone in the area as Uncle Peter, who died in 2009. They also ran a second restaurant