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A LIFE WELL LIVED
from 94 CURRY LIFE
A LIFEWELL LIVED
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Wahid Uddin Kutub
Bangladeshi race relations leader and north-east curry industry pioneer Wahid Uddin Ahmed Kutub, known as Ahmed Kutub, was last month honoured with a commemorative blue plaque by Newcastle City Council.
Plaque
The plaque was unveiled at a special
Kutub, who passed away 15 years ago in 2007, made an outstanding contribution to his local community within and around Newcastle, had a profound effect on race relations in the UK and also worked tirelessly to promote the profile of Bangladeshi people within the UK.
ceremony on 26 March, in the presence of Kutub’s family, Newcastle Lord Mayor Habib Rahman, equality campaigner Hari Shukla MBE and Mahtab Miah, chairman of Newcastle Bangladeshi Association and one of Kutub’s former colleagues. The plaque references Kutub’s contribution as a community leader and campaigner for social justice and racial equality, his role as the owner of Newcastle’s first Indian restaurant, The Rajah, and his achievement in becoming Newcastle’s first Black, Asian and minority ethnic and Muslim-elected councillor, for Fenham Ward.
Honouring achievements
Speaking to Curry Life, his eldest son Mehtab Kutub recalled how his father, who was born in 1932, came to the UK and worked as a waiter in Indian restaurants in London.
Ceremony took place in March 2022
“While he was in London, he met a man from Newcastle who suggested he open a restaurant there and that led to the establishment of The Rajah in Cloth Market in 1965,” says Mehtab. “It was quite a special thing at the time as Indian restaurants were quite rare. My father was very much a trailblazer in that respect. The Rajah was so popular when it opened that people used to queue around the block on Saturday lunchtime.”
The restaurant also attracted its fair share of celebrity diners, including the actor Michael Caine when he was filming Get Carter, which was released in 1971, in and around Newcastle. While Mehtab says his father was an accomplished cook, he worked mainly as a waiter and in front of house. Alongside The Rajah, Kutub owned three other restaurants, two in Newcastle and the third in nearby Whitley Bay. He also gave opportunities to many Bangladeshis who arrived in the UK in search of careers. He established the Rajah Restaurant Training Centre from the restaurant premises, offering training to many Bangladeshis, who then went on
to set up their own restaurants. To this day, Kutub is recognised by the British Bangladeshi community for bringing the curry industry to the North East.
Breaking the mould
He became heavily involved in social justice and racial equality in the late 1970s, and became a member of the Labour party and therefore took a step back from the restaurant industry, eventually giving up the restaurants in the mid-1980s. One of his greatest achievements at this time was being elected Newcastle’s first Black, Asian and minority ethnic and Muslim-elected councillor, for Fenham Ward in 1986,
The Rajah Restaurant particularly as the ward at the time was predominantly white and middle-class.
“My father was a very passionate believer in race relations, but it wasn’t just about the Bengali community, “ explains Mehtab. “He was very active in trying to bring together other communities, meeting with West Indian and Chinese leaders.”
At the unveiling of the plaque, Newcastle’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Habib Rahman said: “Working for cohesion and working for social justice, championing equality for all of us, regardless of our age, gender, ability or sexuality, he was a true citizen of this great city.”
Kutub was also the founder, in 1984, of the Newcastle Bangladesh Association and was the first chairperson of the Greater Sylhet Development Council (GSC) in 1993.
Mahtab Miah, current chairman of Newcastle Bangladeshi Association, who worked alongside Kutub and who knew him since 1971, said: “He was a pillar of the community and worked tirelessly for the betterment of community relations, and was an inspiration to us all.”
Miah says he was thrilled to see Kutub honoured in this way and describes him as a ‘philanthropist’ who dedicated most of his life to those around him, and that his actions as an activist were second to none.
“He was a pioneer and a role model and I learnt so much from him - he was a true inspiration,” he adds.
Kutub also set up various charitable organisations, including the Tyne Wear Community Relations Council, of which he was chairman from 1975 until 1983. In 1978, he was appointed to the Home Secretary's Council on Racial Relations. He was also chairman of the Northumbria Police Communities Group, a governor of three schools, and a member of the city council's housing and economic development committees. During the Liberation War in 1971, he set up a committee base at his house and he also made efforts to help those in need in Bangladesh.
Mehtab believes that his father’s biggest legacy is the progress he made with regards to race relations and his success in the restaurant industry.
“Newcastle has such a diverse community today and there is far more acceptance of ethnic minorities,” he said. “And while there are now many Indian restaurants, my father made the cuisine very popular in the 1970s - the Rajah was one of the top restaurants in the city and a real ‘destination place’.”
Mehtab adds that his father set a wonderful example to the entire family. More importantly, in spite of all his achievements, Kutub was a modest and humble person.
“He was a very private person who enjoyed learning and our enduring memory of our father is of a man who supported us through thick and thin,” says Mehtab.
