By the 1970s a taste for Indo-Pak food had established itself among white Britons, which the restaurateurs readily embraced, aiming heavily anglicised versions of traditional dishes squarely at these new customers. The number of curry houses skyrocketed in various spots in Greater Manchester. Nonetheless, for more than two decades, the Curry Mile did a roaring trade. Competition was fierce and waiters stood on the streets touting for trade. With its neon signs and raucous customers, Wilmslow Road and Stockport Road had a extravagant feel, especially on weekends, queues formed outside the most popular restaurants.

Having introduced the UK to bold flavours and spice, curry houses now faced competition from an array of exciting cuisines, from Indian to Arabic and Mexican to Thai. Supermarket ready meals and the availability of ingredients such as ginger, garlic and chillies allowed people to recreate their favourite curry house dishes at home. Well-travelled diners also began to understand the diversity of South Asian cuisine, worked out that not all of it was Indian, realised that the dishes offered in curry houses were rarely much like the real thing, and went off in search of more authentic regional fare. 

It will be good to mention that some takeaways offers a menu that fuses Jordanian cuisine with the road’s existing influences. The kebabs are Iranian, the roast and grilled chicken Middle Eastern, the Qabuli Pilau from Afghanistan. People have been coming here for more than a decade, drawn to the tender, garlicky roast chicken and the char and chew of the lamb chops.

I still live a short walk from the Curry Mile. Like other Mancunians with South Asian heritage, Wilmslow Road has been a huge part of my life. During Ramadan, I broke my fast and lined up outside dessert lounges for falooda and knafeh, and watched the road continue to reinvent itself. Wilmslow road and Stockport road is here for everybody, but I can’t help feeling that it has been reclaimed as a place for recent immigrants to make their home. White British customers continue to be warmly welcomed, but are no longer the main clientele of the area’s businesses. For proof of this you only have to go there on a typical weekend. Black and Brown men and women, friends and families, all dressed up for a night out, throng the pavements, visiting shisha bars or stopping for a shawarma.