Badsha Meah

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Badsha Meah was born in the Sylhet district of Bangladesh on January 30th 1936. He came to Gloucester in 1965 to stay with his brother Askir Meah who had come to Gloucester approximately seven or eight years before.

Badsha had come to join his brothers in the restaurant business. At the time there were only three Bangladeshi restaurants in Gloucester and his brother successfully owned two of them. One was on 20, London Road called New Karachi. The second was called Tajmahal and was at 49 Southgate Street.

He explained that the restaurants were named after Indian and Pakistani places and monuments, although they were fundamentally from a completely different origin, that of Bangladesh. It is because the people in this country were more familiar with Indian icons than with those of Bangladesh, a smaller and less recognised country.

The restaurants would be kept open during the day and at night, however Badsha found that most of his customers would come at night. They would mostly be English - just one in a hundred would be of a different nationality. Eastern food, with its range of spices, progressively became an alternative to English food for many people.
Before coming to Gloucester, he was a student in Bangladesh and had learnt a little about England. However, on arrival, Badsha had found the language barrier to be a problem. As time passed however, his English improved.

He remembers Barton Street, predominately known for its Asian community, as being different from today. As there are many Asian food stores now there were scarcely any back then. He remembers having to go to Ryecroft Street to do some shopping at Mr Achei's shop. Although there weren't any Bangladeshi vegetables he could buy Indian vegetables instead.

He was joined in July 1986 by his wife Roushan Ara Meah. He describes how then the Asian women would not go out very much. Now, he reflects on how times have changed. Like most of the Bangladeshi families now, his wife and daughters go shopping or to college. He accepted this because he believed that his daughters should have the same opportunities as boys - therefore they should go to college for higher education.

Badsha would like to go back to Bangladesh, but only to visit. He prefers to live in England. He has raised his children in this country and now, all but one have left school and grown up. They have been educated in this country and Badsha adamantly rejects the idea that of any of his children should enter the restaurant business. This is due to the fact that it is now very competitive. Differentiating one restaurant from another is very difficult now, as there are so many to choose from. Moreover, the competition has made the catering trade less profitable than before.

Badsha is now known as the most senior member of his community. Although his children have been brought up in this country, he has given them a Bangladeshi upbringing in the home. He loves his country and would like his children to be married in Bangladesh.