“He always used to tell his friends, ‘don’t forget the charities, don’t forget to help people’. A lot of people would listen to him and give what they could.”
A snapshot of a Mohammed Islam - known as Nowab Miah, a much-loved father and restaurant owner who was tragically killed during a carjacking in Stockport early last year.
A pillar of his local community, a mentor and a best friend, it is hard to understate the impact Mohammed had on his family and the three Greater Manchester towns where he worked, lived and socialised. The family man and owner of Marple Spice had been delivering his last takeaway on the night of Friday, January 8 to an address in the nearby village of Romiley when he fatally injured.
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The 53-year-old father was run over whilst trying to stop his car being taken. Rushed to hospital he bravely clung on, but sadly lost his battle on Sunday, January 10. A teenage boy was later convicted - and jailed for four years and nine months - for manslaughter and conspiracy to steal.
Paying tribute to him at the time, Mr Miah's family said his death had left them 'devastated beyond belief'. “Dad was everything you could ask for in a parent; a mentor, a role model - our best friend,” they said.
“We shared everything with him and there was nothing we couldn't tell him that he couldn’t fix. He was extremely loyal and nothing came between him and his family."
Tragedies like this can fracture communities or bring them together. In this case Marple and the wider Stockport community rallied round. A GoFundMe was set up to raise money for Mohammed's family and the children of Bangladesh - a cause of great importance to Mohammed, who had come to England from Bangladesh when he was just 14.
When his former business partner and close friend Roub Miah heard the news, he couldn’t take it in. “My son was the one who told me, I didn’t believe it.
“It broke my heart. Even now I feel like there’s something missing here. We always used to laugh and joke a lot.
“He used to gather money and go to Bangladesh to distribute it to the children and he helped a lot of people. When there’s disasters people do need a lot of help, so he always used to give generously.
“He also used to help the community in Hyde, he was a community leader and was very well known. And he helped a lot of people opening restaurants - as far as I know, he helped open four.”
It was 2010 when the pair first worked together, then later, when Mohammed wanted to open Marple Spice he asked Roub to join him.
Though Roub left in 2016 to open his own restaurant in Hazel Grove, the pair remained good friends, like family in fact. “ I used to always call him and speak to him, and even in the month of Ramadan he would call me and say come up, we’ll have Iftar together.”
Though Roub had his own businesses, when Mohammed’s son said he was struggling for staff and needed additional help following his father's death, he knew what he needed to do. “He came up to me and said, ‘you were dad’s friend, I know you can maintain this place and I don’t want to let anyone else have it’. I knew I could really take care of it for him.”
With the help of two of his sons, Mahir and Abid, Roub took over Marple Spice, safe in the knowledge that he had the backing and support of the local community. “Abid did all the design and Mahir did all the official admin side, while I did all the staffing, help with the kitchen, and training and hygiene side.”
“I wanted to pay my condolences to this gentleman, one who worked very hard throughout his life and worked tirelessly to support charities in Bangladesh - I wanted to carry it on for him. He was a great gentleman.”
As they had when Mohammed passed, the Marple community rallied around the new team after a redesign and rethink of the menu. “We had a small party for the mayor and mayoress when it reopened during the August Bank Holiday and it’s been doing really well - we’re getting a lot of online orders because of the discounts we offer, but the Marple Food & Drink Festival also helped us spread the word about reopening. We made chicken biryani and curry especially for the event and it sold really well.
“My daughter who is 15 also made three cheesecakes and she made £150 selling those, she’s going to give a third of it to The Christie Charity - a cause which is very important to me. What the community has done is excellent, I have no words to express what it means.
“It's been a great advert for us, while weekdays are a little quiet, Fridays and Saturdays are packed - just wait until we get the upstairs running though”, smiles Roub.
He proudly shows the Marple Spice menu, which he carefully curated. As well as a wide variety of vegetable and seafood dishes there are dairy free options - the Grandmother dhal is a dish he’s especially keen to highlight and is packed full of lentils and herbs.
“Our menu is quite different from other restaurants, there’s also lots of vegan wines and it’s healthy. People can’t believe I don’t use food colourings, I just say ‘come try for yourself’.”
Despite the very tragic circumstances in which Roub came to own Marple Spice, he feels very fortunate to run somewhere that brings back fond memories of his family and Mohammed’s. “I love this place, when the kids were young they helped here too and helped me build this when we first started, especially Mahir.
“I would say we’re really lucky because when the place was open he actually started selling it to someone else but it fell through. Before I originally left, he offered it to me as well, but at the time I didn’t have the team, and if he had left the existing team would have gone because they were so loyal to him.”
Now, though Mohammed is no longer there, Roub says that most of the people that come in either recognise him and have got to know him well since the relaunch. Thanking the community for what they have done in supporting the restaurant and Mohammed’s family after the tragedy, he makes sure to offer a number of discounts and gives some of the proceeds to The Christie - a gesture that links the two men and ensures Mohammed’s legacy of charity is never forgotten.
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