‘The culture has changed’: end of the boom for Birmingham’s Balti Triangle

Zafar Hussain, the owner of Shababs on Ladypool Road, cooking a chicken balti. Photograph: John Robertson/The Guardian

Back in its heyday, Birmingham’s famous Balti Triangle was home to more than 30 authentic balti houses, with an estimated 20,000 diners a week passing through during the boom years in the 90s and 00s.

But today just four remain, as economic pressures and changing culinary trends have led many to be replaced by takeaways and dessert shops.