Curry house given award for helping the community in the pandemic

Restaurateur Sujatur RaZa and his team at the Taste of Paradise have been making food deliveries to vulnerable people, offering discounts to NHS staff and care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Members of the team also went out of their way to provide free meals to Lewis Manning Hospice Care. Now their commendable work has been honoured with special recognition by the national curry trade magazine Curry Life.

Sujatur RaZa said: "During this pandemic we were delighted to support NHS and care workers by giving substantial discounts. We have also contributed to the local Princess Royal Hospital in Telford. We have also supported school children during half term with free meals for kids and we are still supporting our NHS workers, by offering discounts.”

"They have been working so hard over the past year they deserve the support of the community."

The magazine's editor in chief, Syed Nahas Pasha, said: “Despite the unprecedented problems posed by the present pandemic, these curry houses have gone out of their way to be almost a fourth emergency service to vulnerable people.

“Their businesses and livelihoods have been severely impacted, but this has not stopped them offering a helping hand to the neediest in our society at a time of crisis.”

He added: “During Covid-19, many curry houses have just managed to keep their heads above the water – absorbing the costs of closures, reduced capacity and Covid-19 compliance – many often putting their own lives at risk, as they themselves come largely from vulnerable BAME communities.

“Their efforts really deserve to be recognised as truly heroic and we are delighted to be able to mark their magnificent contributions in this way.”