Curry Mile
Encyclopedia
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
in south Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The name is earned from the large number of restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, take-aways and kebab houses specialising in the cuisines of South Asia and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, thought to be the largest concentration of South Asian restaurants outside the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
. Within a length of less than a mile there are least seventy establishments of this kind. The Curry Mile is notable for its streets being busy into the early hours of the morning. The area is much visited by local students, because of its location near the Oxford Road and Fallowfield
Fallowfield Campus
The Fallowfield Campus is the main residential campus of the University of Manchester. It is located in Fallowfield, Manchester, 2 miles south of the main university site, to which it is connected by Wilmslow Road and the A34.-History:...
Campuses of the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
.
Restaurants
From the 1990s to early twenty first century, the area was dominated by mainly IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian and British
British cuisine
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, largely due to the importation of ingredients and ideas from places such as North America, China, and India...
cuisines. However, due to the mass migration of South Asians into the Rusholme area, only the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n market flourished. Since 2000, Pakistani and North India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n restaurants remain dominant. However, there has been a noticeable increase in Afghan and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
cuisine into the area also.
Eid
Considering the cultural niche, in the past there was a surprising lack of Asian diners in Rusholme, the majority being made up of students and white young professionals. However, over the last few years there has been a considerable increase in the number of Asian families visiting the area for meals. Each year, the EidEid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
festival celebrations transform the Curry Mile into a night-time party, although sadly sometimes a small minority of festival goers have caused trouble and spoiled the colourful atmosphere. In recent years, police presence around the mile during this period has been high, and zero-tolerance has become the strategy used for the disruptive youths.
Other features
Also situated along the mile are a variety of Asian fashion, grocery and music shops, and the flavour of Asian cultural influence permeates most enterprises. The traditional and relaxing pastime of smoking ShishaHookah
A hookah A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari, (Nastaleeq) huqqah) also known as a waterpipe or narghile, is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking in which the smoke is cooled by water. The tobacco smoked is referred to...
(the Middle-Eastern water pipe) has seen popularity in the area. Shisha holds a long and historic tradition in Arabia popular with royalty and public alike. Shisha is available in many flavours, from the usual apple and strawberry to coffee, chocolate and Coca Cola flavours. It is usually shared by a group of friends accompanied by mint tea or other beverages.
Middle Eastern eateries have had a rising presence along the mile in recent years which has. This is due to a rising demand for Arabic food due to its popularity and to cater for a larger Arab and Kurdish community than in the past.
Rusholme also has several traditional English pubs along the curry mile, which cater to locals and university students including Hardy's Well, The Whitworth, and The Huntsman Inn.
On film
In 1996, Aneel Ahmed and Faisal A. Qureshi wrote Movin As A Massive a Channel 4 Documentary written for the Lloyds Bank Film Challenge.Movin As A Massive was the winner of the 1996 Race in the Media Award for Best Youth Programme. It was nominated by the RTS
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
in 1996 for Most Innovative Film/Video and was winner of the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
/Lloyds Bank Film Challenge. It was directed by Ninder Billing and produced by Andy Porter and Madeline French for Compulsive Viewing.
A semi-sequel, Wimmy Road, was later written for BBC Radio Drama by Faisal A. Qureshi and directed by Nadia Molinari. It was nominated for a Race in the Media Award for Best Radio Drama.
In books
Zahid Hussain's novel "The Curry MileThe Curry Mile
The Curry Mile is a 2006 novel written by the Pakistani Manchester-based novelist, Zahid Hussain. The debut novel was also the first book published by Suitcase Press. The book is set on Wilmslow Road, also known as the Curry Mile, in the Rusholme area of Manchester. The novel is a piece of urban...
" is set in the contemporary Curry Mile and features characters involved in the restaurant trade.