Bradford is crowned England's Curry Capital but loses out to Glasgow for British title

The Bradford Council-backed bid came a whisker away from capturing the Curry Capital of Britain prize – beaten by only two points by Glasgow.

Bradford was commended for having the most “innovative submission” for its cinema-themed bid, created to reflect its status as Unesco’s world City of Film.

Competition organiser Peter Groves said yesterday: “Bradford presented the most creative bid out of all the cities, drawing on several aspects of the city to fully illustrate the impact curry houses and their culture have on the region and their local community.”

A DVD featured the four restaurants chosen to represent Bradford: Lahore Cafe Bar in Bradford, Azeems in Keighley and Aagrah and Shimla Spice in Shipley.

Mohammed Aslam, executive chef and managing director of the Aagrah group of restaurants, said: “Britain’s passion with spicy Asian food has reached a new high and when it comes to curries Bradford is the culinary hot spot for the country. This award is great news for the city of Bradford.”

Lahore Cafe Bar managing director Asghar Ali said: “I feel Bradford should have been number one. The bid Bradford put in was fantastic and the offer we have is second to none. It’s got the most restaurants and the best quality.”

Director of Azeems Barkat Ali said: “We are very pleased, there is always room for next time. We were up against quite good restaurants. I think we deserved to come first, everyone really put a lot of effort in.”

Faisal Hussain, a manager at Shimla Spice, said: “There’s no curry in the UK like in Bradford, the best curries are here. We’re still the best in England. I think Bradford still is the curry capital. Next year we have got a definite chance.”

Councillor the Reverend Paul Flowers said: “There is such diversity in the city and it is fantastic to see the public and the businesses which make Bradford the place it is today coming together to demonstrate just how good the city and its curry truly is.”