Lumb Lane: An early Social Hub for Leeds South Asian Migrants

Early migrants first settled wherever work was available. Once laws enabled further chain migration, fellow relatives were sponsored. This meant that diaspora communities formed from the early industrial areas. Bradford and Leeds form two major hotspots for incoming migrants and both city’s South Asian communities were inextricably linked, given the geographical proximity of the cities, the opportunities both had in terms of work and leisure, as well as the fact that both communities were related in terms of common origin, familial links, links of kinship or friendship or from being part of the same overall identity.

One such example of a place in Bradford which was often frequented by the early Leeds community is the Sweet Centre on Lumb Lane, established in 1964 by brothers Mohammed Bashir and Abdul Rehman, who were both born in the village of Tangdew.

Tangdew is situated near the town of Chakswari, in the Mirpur region of Jammu and Kashmir (now in Tehsil and District Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, administered by Pakistan). The family descended from an elder called Baba Nihal Deen who migrated from a place called Seri Chattar, now in District Kotli, not far from Khuiratta, and he came to settle in Tangdew.

Bashir’s and Rehman’s childhoods were spent tending to the household, looking after the land they owned, and a water well inherited from their forefathers, which was a fundamental source of income. Shortly after the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, at a young age, Bashir began a grocery business with a partnership, but it resulted in a loss of 5,000 Rupees, a very heavy expense in those days.

Mirpur was an area deprived of basic faculties and the poverty drove many Mirpuris to other places in search of work. Bashir decided to travel to another city to find work to recover the business loss and clear his debts. Thus, in the early 1950s, Bashir and his younger brother Rehman travelled to Multan, Pakistan, to work as labourers in the textile industry.

The World Wars had catastrophically impacted Britain’s economy and meant that the textile sector in Bradford (the wool capital of world) had fallen into decline. Consequently, from the mid-20th century, incoming Pakistani and Kashmiri immigrants helped to resolve labour shortages in the steel, textile and engineering industries of Britain. Bashir’s younger brother Rehman saw an advertisement seeking skilled men to come to Bradford, West Yorkshire, in order to work in the textile industry there. Bashir who was already in debt, had to sell their family’s silver jewellery in order so that he could afford the journey, and with some support of various relatives, they were able support in buying a ticket for his younger brother Rehman covering the expense for him to arrive in England.

Rehman arrived alone in London in 1957, with a paltry sum of five British Pounds in his hands, and a single piece of paper on which was written the address of one of his relatives in Bradford. Rehman, with no education and with the language barrier, struggled hard to initially find his way, but eventually manage to take a train and arrived in Bradford. He immediately began looking for jobs and found one in a textile factory in Morley. Having had some experience of the textile industry from Pakistan, he was promoted to a supervising role within weeks of working.

Later, he started working at Whitehead’s Mill in Bradford. After four years of strenuous working and paying back the debts he owed to people in the village, he wrote a letter to his older brother Mohammed Bashir to join him in Bradford, where they could work together in the textile industry.

In 1961, Bashir joined his younger brother in Bradford, where he learned of the problems his early Kashmiri community faced: Yorkshire’s cold and wet weather, as well as issues of finding Halal chicken and meat, and problems of hot water. These were the problem faced by the early South Asian communities from Pakistan, Kashmir, India and Bangladesh. The difficulty in an easily accessible and readily available venue to find Halal food gave the brothers Rehman and Bashir the idea to start a Halal butchers shop, and so they opened one on Lumb lane, near Green Lane School, in 1962.

Rehman was reunited with his wife and son in 1963 and they made their home in the flat above the butchers shop. In the same year, Rehman opened a Shower Centre on Lumb Lane where he hired a barber. The newly arrived south Asian community frequented the shop for not only a haircut, but also showered and bathed there as many could not afford to have hot water in their own homes.

As business improved, Mr Rehman decided to buy number 110 Lumb Lane and turn this small building into a café. He opened the Sweet Centre on 12 December 1964 and started selling Asian sweets. At this Sweet Centre, they provided newspapers from home, and a tape recorder that could play Indian and Pakistani music. The Centre also had a separate area in the café basement for the privacy of families and women. It instantaneously became popular, attracting English customers who enjoyed the exotic Asian sweet treats and savoury snacks.

Lumb Lane became known across Britain as the best place for the South Asian community to integrate and socialise.

In 1966, the brothers introduced a traditional breakfast café. In 1974, Rehman purchased the shop next door to and moved Sweet Centre to the larger premises. In 1976, the brothers sponsored their third brother, Abdul Aziz, who in turn joined to help them in their growing business. Sweet Centre attracted celebrities from across Pakistan and India: Wali Khan, the renowned politician; Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan; Dilip Kumar, actor and producer; the actress, singer and dance choreographer Vyjayanthimala; and the folk singer Alam Lohar, father of Arif Lohar. These notable personalities were all served food in the Sweet Centre Café on Lumb Lane. In 2002, HRH Queen Elizabeth II was presented with Sweet Centre sweets in Scunthorpe. Bashir and Rehman’s legacy continues today after over half a century.