Charan Gill MBE, founder of Harlequin Restaurants, at the Ashoka West End in the 1990s.
The young Charan Gill came with his family from the Punjab to Glasgowin 1963, to join his father who had found work as a bus driver, and became an apprentice at Yarrow's Shipyard six years later. He left the yard to work as a waiter in Indian restaurants and in 1984, with his business partner Gurmail Dhillon, he acquired the Ashoka Restaurant in Argyle Street. Their company Harlequin Restaurants is, in 2004, one of Glasgow's best-known and most innovative businesses.
Gill has kept a high profile in the city's media where he is often referred to as "Glasgow's Curry King." He also attracted attention as the singer in a banghra group, Bombay Talkie. In 1998 he was awarded the MBE for services to the food and catering industry and in 2004 was voted Entrepreneur of the Year at Britain's Asian Business Awards ceremony.
Reproduced with the permission of Harlequin Restaurants
Keywords:
Ashoka West End, banghra, Bombay Talkie, curry, eating, Harlequin Restaurants, immigrants, Indian food, Indian restaurant owners, Indian restaurants, Indians, waiters
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