From a tiny 28-seat restaurant on Bradford’s Leeds Road to one of Britain’s best-known Pakistani restaurant brands, Shabir Hussain changed the way a nation experienced South Asian food.

As the Leeds Road Festival returns this August, his daughters are carrying forward a remarkable legacy built on family, ambition and an enduring love for the road where it all began.

For Shabir Hussain, Leeds Road was never simply an address.

It was home. It was opportunity. And it was where a young Bradford entrepreneur with an enormous personality and even bigger ambition decided to take a chance on himself.

In 1995, Shabir opened the first Akbar’s on Leeds Road with just 28 seats. From those modest beginnings grew a restaurant empire that took the flavours of Bradford to cities across Britain.

Yet however far the Akbar’s name travelled, Leeds Road remained part of its soul.
That is why Shabir’s story feels inseparable from the Leeds Road Festival.

When thousands gathered at last year’s event to witness the unveiling of a landmark billboard in his honour, it was more than a tribute to a successful businessman. It was a community recognising one of its own – a man whose success helped change perceptions of what could be achieved from this famous Bradford street.

Shabir, who passed away in October 2024 aged 56, became affectionately known as the “King of Curry”. But his contribution went far beyond building a successful restaurant chain.

He helped transform the way Pakistani and South Asian food was experienced in Britain, believing authentic cuisine did not need to lose its identity to attract a wider audience. Instead, the standards around it had to rise.

Food had to be consistent. Service mattered. Presentation mattered. Atmosphere mattered. Above all, customers had to leave remembering the experience.

As Akbar’s expanded, those principles remained at the heart of the business. Shabir was taking the food and hospitality he was proud of on Leeds Road and presenting it confidently to diners across the country.

And then there was the naan tree

It was pure Shabir: practical, theatrical and unforgettable.

Faced with huge family naans taking up valuable table space, he devised a metal stand from which the breads could hang vertically. A simple space-saving idea became one of the most recognisable sights in British curry restaurants.

It was copied across the industry. Shabir would later joke that one of his biggest regrets was never patenting it.

That innovation captured his understanding of hospitality. Dining was not simply about what arrived on the plate. It was about generosity, theatre and creating memories around a table.

A legacy carried forward by his daughters

His daughters are now helping steer the Akbar’s empire their father built, protecting its heritage while looking towards its future. His daughter Samiara Hussain has spoken publicly about Shabir dedicating his life to raising standards in South Asian cuisine, while his daughter Samira has proudly represented the family in celebrating his achievements.

That included an emotional moment at the Business Power Awards 2025, when Shabir was posthumously honoured with the Special Recognition Award for his outstanding contribution to business, hospitality and the South Asian restaurant industry.

Samira accepted the award on her father’s behalf – a fitting recognition of a Bradford entrepreneur whose influence stretched far beyond the city where his remarkable journey began.

There is something particularly powerful about seeing his daughters carrying that crown.

Because Akbar’s was never simply about restaurants. Shabir built a name, a reputation and a standard. In doing so, he showed a generation of British Pakistanis that a business born on Leeds Road could become nationally recognised without forgetting where it came from.

That is why his presence will be felt when Leeds Road comes alive again for the festival.

Behind the food, entertainment and celebrations is a bigger story about Bradford itself: immigrant families building businesses, independent traders taking risks, communities supporting one another and one generation creating opportunities for the next.

More than three decades after he opened those first doors, Akbar’s remains on Leeds Road. The naan trees are still rising above tables. The food is still being served. His daughters are carrying the business forward. And the street he loved is still telling his story.

On 15th August, people will return to the road he loved to celebrate the man who helped put it – and Bradford’s Pakistani food – firmly on the national map. The King of Curry may be gone, but on Leeds Road, his legacy is everywhere.