Tower Tandoori up for national curry award

Tower Tandoori, a family-run restaurant established in 1978, features on the 100-strong shortlist for the second British Curry Awards.

The awards ceremony – hosted this year by ITV London Tonight presenter Alastair Stewart – will be held on Sunday 17 September at the Grosvenor House Hotel.

Tower Tandoori is owned by Shab Uddin, whose father started the restaurant in 1978. Shab's son Alam is the restaurant manager. 18 months ago the restaurant had a major makeover by architect Azim Mannan.

The British Curry Awards were created by restaurateur Enam Ali to reward the very best restaurants and entrepreneurs in the British spice industry.

"Today ‘curry' has become a national dish because our pioneers established restaurants in every corner of the UK and by doing so, contributed so much to British culture without achieving the personal recognition they deserved,” says Mr Ali.

It is estimated that Britain's Indian restaurant industry boasts more than 10,000 establishments employing approximately 80,000 people and turning over £3.2 billion a year.