Birmingham ‘Balti Triangle' restaurant to close after 45 years

One of the original restaurant in Birmingham's "Balti Triangle" is set to close after 45 years.

Saleem's in Sparkbrook is to close in November after a drop in trade, despite fighting back to re-open after being partially wrecked in a freak tornado in July 2005.

Co-owner Saleem Waheed, whose late father Abdul opened the Ladypool Road Pakistani restaurant in 1971, told the Birmingham Post that the closure was "like a bereavement".

"We were the very first Balti Triangle restaurant in the Ladypool Road and 10 to 15 years later others started opening up," he said.

"There were 25 to 30 at one time but now there are only seven or eight left."

He clamed competition from franchises selling "cheap and cheerful" food for his restaurant's closure, as well as the fact that surrounding clothing shops in the area where Saleem's sits didn't help to bring in enough customers.