Rats, crime and inflation: fears for future of Manchester’s famed Curry Mile

The Curry Mile is a half-mile stretch of restaurants and shops in south Manchester. All photographs by Gary Calton Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

When Nadia Khan used to visit Manchester’s curry mile in the 1990s, the street was filled with families and felt completely safe. Travelling from Milton Keynes to see family and friends in the area, she would be excited to see the bustling street lined with stalls selling clothes and bric-a-brac.

“Now a woman can’t walk on these streets on her own at night without getting harassed,” she said. “It never used to be like that.”