Lunchtime Meeting - 12.45pm - Speaker George Miah

Oswestry resident and businessman George Miah will tell us about the Muslim faith today.

George and his wife Julie have run Oswestry's much loved Simla Restaurant for over 40 years and is well respected in the Oswestry community.  Over the years, he has raised lots of money for worthy causes and been a friend to many.  George is also a leader in the local Muslim community and chief adviser to the Oswestry Muslim Society and today will tell us about the Muslim faith.

Here is a little background about how George came to Oswestry and the start of his family business.

Simla Celebrates 40th Anniversary
Report by Naomi Penrose - Shropshire Star - May 2016

When restaurant owner George Miah opened up Oswestry's first Indian restaurant 40 years ago, he had a battle on his hands - trying to get the English palate to swap from its favourite of fish and chips to authentic Bangladeshi cuisine.
This month marks 40 years since Mr Miah opened Simla for business in Beatrice Street, Oswestry in May 1976.

Born in Bangladesh, Mr Miah, 62, moved to Shropshire with his uncle at the age of 13 for a better quality of life and to be able to support his family, and although Mr Miah is a much-loved member of the community who can't walk through Oswestry's town centre without stopping and chatting to people, things haven't always been smooth sailing.

"I love Oswestry," he said "I love the people here. It's my life but the early days were hard days. We took a lot of abuse. At least once a month a window would be smashed. People would leave without paying and there was a flight in the restaurant at least once a fortnight.
"It was difficult, but there's none of that any more. In fact the people who did that will come in now and tell their grandchildren what they did and how wrong it was, and I find that quite special.

"We don't have that any more. Things have come a long way." Mr Miah started working part-time at Shiraz restaurant in Shrewsbury in 1968, before working in Dudley for six years where  he met his wife Julie. But Mr Miah said his uncle didn't want him working for others forever, he wanted to see him branch out and run a place of his own.

"My uncle would just hop on and off buses hoping to find a suitable place for me. He looked in Ludlow, Market Drayton, Bishop's Castle but when he saw what's now Simla it was perfect and readily on a plate, " he said.
"So I asked the landlord for six months rental of the property but he asked if I could try a year really to see how it goes and the rest is that."
Mr Miah recalls the early days when customers would opt for English meals such as fish and chips at the restaurant.

"To begin with I'd say 85 per cent of customers would go for traditional English meals. For example, if I served 30 to 40 meals of a lunchtime, only two of those would be curries," he said.
"It wasn't until the early 1980's when I noticed a shift in preference, when chicken tikka masala was the in thing and that was actually made for a western palate."
During his time in Oswestry, Mr Miah has become one of the most popular members of the community, immersing himself in community life through fund-raising and his general warm nature.

Recently Mr Miah was honoured for his work within the Bangladeshi community in Shropshire, as he was a leading light in the opening of the prayer centre in Shrewsbury and is chairman of the Bangladeshi Welfare Society.
He was given an award for his efforts by Shrewsbury County Council.
Simla has staged an annual fund-raising dinner for good causes since 1988, which Mr Miah estimates in total between £70,000 to £80,000 has been raised for charity through those events.

To mark the restaurant's 40th anniversary two charity nights have taken place over the past fortnight - both of which completely sold out.
He said, "We could've held more nights and been sold out five or six times over, people really do support the events which is wonderful.

"One thing I've never done is keep an exact count oh how much money we raise because when you give to charity you don't look at how much you give, the important thing is that you are giving to charity.
"I think people in the town have a lot of respect for that and respect me and you can't buy that, that's priceless."

Although Mr Miah has put his heart and soul into his business, he knows that it would not have been going for four decades without the customers.
"The customers are king. They have the control. People think it's me that keeps Simla running.
"It's actually the customers and I'm incredibly grateful for that. The customers are like family actually." he said.
Mr Miah and his wife Julie, 62, have three children, daughter Seema and sons Shoheb and Shaheen, as well as how being grandparents to Seema's daughter Mehnaz.

"My granddaughter is my inspiration and my family are just incredible," he said.
"This career path has meant so much sacrifice for them, I haven't been able to take my wife out and about because of work, and I haven't always been able to do things for my children because of that.
"It's been sacrifice for us all and I couldn't thank them enough for putting up with me and my unsociable hours and being understanding of that."