Mohibul Hussain

print page prev page

Mohibul Hussain was born in a village called Joganneth Pur in the Sylhet district in Bangladesh. After finishing the Bangladeshi equivalent to GCSEs he came to England in July 1965.

When he was in Brighton he did a degree in Design and Technology at the Polytechnic College before coming to Gloucester in July 1979 to start a business. He first bought an old restaurant and kept the name 'Curry Inn Tandoori' in 72 Westgate Street. Hussain's restaurant became the second in Gloucester.

There were only ten people working in his restaurant and the business was a great success as he earned approximately £4,500 a week. Other then the staff that worked in these restaurants there were no other Bangladeshis in Gloucester. Hussain's restaurant was there until 1992. However in 1993 he did open another restaurant in Cheltenham with the same name in High Street. Once again the restaurant was a success. Hussain describes how there were only fifteen to twenty workers in the restaurant business in Gloucester at the time. Two Asian stores had opened, Motala's shop and Mohammadi store.

Hussain went back to his home district in Bangladesh to marry in 1973. He first returned without his wife but was later reunited with her in 1979. They then had seven children.

His eldest son is a consultant engineer who graduated from Oxford University. His second son graduated from Cardiff University with BSc (Hons) and continued to his Masters. His third son is a civil engineer. His daughter is currently at GLOSCAT and the remaining children are still at school.

Mohibul and his wife express how proud they are of their children. Even though he, has been successful in the restaurant business, he wants his children to stay away from that particular trade as he believes there is no future in it.

He now is semi-retired and focuses his time and attention upon his children's education, as well as giving financial advice to his friends when needed. He describes it as 'social work'.

Essentially Mohibul loves his community, but sees that there are areas that need to be developed, in particular greater harmony and unity within the community. Although he and his wife are growing old, great importance lies upon his children's education. Girls, he says, should be equally treated to boys. To achieve this they must have a good education. Therefore he encourages his daughters as much as he can. He wants to help the community to make it a better place for people of all generations.