Decline in customers and the necessity to provide Islamic food are among the main challenges facing Islamic restaurants in Charminster Road in Bournemouth.
Ahmed Ahmedi, 39, of Pamir Kebabish, an Afghan restaurant said: “I have been working at this restaurant for four years and I have noticed that Muslim’s food is varied from other sorts of food, particularly meat which has to be under certain standards such as slaughtered according to the Islamic way
“It has to be Halal in order to be eaten by Muslims and here in the UK, unfortunately this sort of meat is not widely available compared with Islamic countries.’’
He added: “There are few non-Muslims come to our restaurant because we do not provide alcohol owing to that our religion and culture do not allow us to sell them, So, most of our customers are Arab or other Muslims who have many customs and social norms in common with Afghanistan.’’
Azzan Al Alawi, 24, an Omani student who visits Charminster Road said: “Islamic shops in Charminster Road have limited customers, based heavily on Muslims, because the nature of products which are not appropriate for non-Muslims, and hence some shops might suffer at the end of each month because of decline in selling.”
Main image credit: Geograph
