A lost Manchester restaurant loved by locals and celebrities alike served David Beckham's "favourite" curry.
Once of the city centre's best-known curry houses, Shimla Pinks opened in 1999 at just off Bridge Street at Crown Square. A sophisticated space offering a modern twist on Indian culinary classics, it was part of a chain of restaurants set up by a Glasgow family.
The first opened in Glasgow in 1989 and 10 years later they decided to open another in Birmingham. Famed for its colour-changing LED wall, at the time it was unlike anything else in the city.
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The highly acclaimed and award winning Indian restaurant was literally 'the' place to be for the city's celebrities and movers and shakers. In 2007, at age 70, Gurmit Pannum was still busy doing what she loves most - cooking at her top restaurant in Manchester. She, along with her family, owned Shimla Pinks.
And over the years, the restaurant also caught the eye of a number of famous faces. Posh and Becks loved Pinks' spicy fare, with David Beckham celebrating scoring the goal that qualified England for the World Cup there with "his favourite" chicken korma, The Guardian reported in 2002.
In 2007, The Mirror reported that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel "tucked into chicken tikka masalas and white wine" at the restaurant. Robbie Williams and the king of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, were also fans of the restaurants.
At Shimla Pinks, the menu was quite eclectic, fusing northern and southern Indian foods and keeping traditional Punjabi influences prevalent throughout. The team followed classical Indian tradition and used only "natural ingredients incorporating fresh herbs and spices in the preparation of their dishes."
The a la carte menu once included tandoor-roasted pink Scottish salmon, jumbo king prawns, Chooza Makhani, Kundan Kaliya, Tikka Masala, Rogan Josh and more. In 2007, we reviewed the popular restaurant.
It reads: "Shimla Pinks has justifiably caught the imagination of both the eye and the palate and offers a wonderfully radical alternative if you fancy "an Indian" - and I frequently do. Even if you're one of those people who've previously never associated Indian food with haute cuisine, put your prejudices behind you and give it a try - you won't be disappointed."
Do you remember Shimla Pinks? Let us know in the comments section below.
But by 2010, the Indian restaurant, which had won numerous awards, announced to customers that it was shutting its doors with immediate effect. Scores of bookings, including many made for Mother's Day meals, were cancelled.
At the time, the restaurant had been due to move out of its Crown Square site - which was earmarked for redevelopment - and Shimla Pinks had signed a lease for a unit on the nearby Spinningfields development two-and-a-half years prior, but the relocation was hit by a series of delays.
Manager Nisar Khan said that the restaurant had effectively become "homeless" after it was refused an extension on the lease at its current premises. He said: "We have spent £400,000 on getting the new site ready but we can still not move in.
"The business was doing well. We had hundreds of bookings for the weeks ahead. We have had to break the news to all our staff."
A statement sent to regular customers and on the restaurant's website, stated that managers were seeking new premises and hoped to be opening shortly. It said: "The restaurant had been trading from Crown Square on a lease extension, which unfortunately has now expired and the doors have closed for the last time.
"Although we had secured new premises in Spinningfields, a change in the economic climate meant that we were unable to secure sufficient funding to complete the re location project. The management team behind Shimla Pinks will be looking to explore other ventures in Manchester in the near the future."
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By that point, it was a separate business to the national chain and owned by Coventry-based businesswoman Gurmit Pannum, currently on holiday in India. Administrators Irwin and Co, who took over the business the month before, said delays relating to the move had caused the firm to go in insolvency.
The restaurant had gone to Manchester County Court in an effort to buy more time at their existing site. But a judge ruled that the landlord had the right to force them out.
The restaurant's landlords Allied London also owned the unit in Spinningfields Shimla Pinks was moving into. At the time, a spokesman for Allied London said: "Shimla Pinks signed a lease on unit A6 at Left Bank in Spinningfields in June 2007.
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"Unfortunately they were unable to complete the fit-out of this unit which was extremely disappointing to all parties involved. Shimla Pinks’ lease on their current premises in Crown Square expired in 2008 and the company has now gone into administration."
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