Edinburgh restaurant owners of Sabzi speak out about attacks on business premises

The owners of an award-winning Indian restaurant in Leith which has featured on BBC2, have spoken of their sadness of suffering attacks on their premises and having their car tyres slashed.

The Sabzi restaurant and takeaway on the corner of Ferry Road and Summerside Street was vandalised this week, with the word sh**te written on the menu boards outside, just a month after dog faeces was smeared across the front of the building.

This latest incident led to the family-run business posting its anger and sadness on social media, prompting many messages of support for the business, which has appeared on BBC Two's Britain's Top Takeaways.

Stevie Singh, 38, who co-owns the business with his younger brother Ryan, and are helped by their parents, explained what they have had to endure.

Photos showing (clockwise) the damage to Gary Singh's car, the vandalism on the menu boards and the wall at the restaurant after staff attempted to clean the dog faeces.

He said: "A couple of months ago there was dog faeces smeared on the front of the property. We didn’t say anything until this week when someone wrote “sh**e” over the front menu boards. Everything that’s happened we have reported to the police.

"We put in an application to extend out opening hours in December, and ever since then there have been issues. We only opened as a full restaurant in July 2021 and things were great until we put in the application. Objections to the extension have come from neighbouring areas.

"We understand people walk their dogs and the dogs do their business on the street but clearly someone has done this intentionally.

"We have had constant little niggles, complaints that never come to anything.

"It’s crazy, because we grew up here, we used to go to the Blockbuster Video shop that we now occupy. This is our area.

"My brother and I live elsewhere now. But everytime I come here now the protocol is to make sure my parents are safe. I shouldn’t have to do that. They have lived here long enough and built relationships with neighbours.”

Stevie has concerns that some of the issues facing the business could be race-related.

He said: "The CCTV couldn’t pick up the vandalism of the boards so now we have to get another one. We feel like every time we come into to open up you have to scan the front to see if anything has been done, you are constantly on edge.

"Being people of colour, we know the looks we have been given recently. I feel like that has always been an issue from the beginning. My mum and dad have lived in the area for 30 years, and in the UK all their lives and they have encountered nothing like this before. It’s just ridiculous.

"We have to install CCTV at my mum and dad’s home as their car tyres were slashed. Me and my two brothers grew up in the area and had no problems, but now we have to suffer the consequences of this and mum and dad feel like prisoners in their own street.

"They need to check around when they leave their home, keep an eye out and are on edge. Checking their tyres etc. And I feel like that when I open the shop.”

Despite these recent attacks Stevie is still hopeful for a brighter future at Sabzi and thanked people for their messages of support this week.

He said: "What we are doing at the restaurant is great, we have been on the telly, we have won awards and want to grow and hopefully open another restaurant. There is a goal in mind.

"People out there have been brilliant since we posted about this and I’m still thanking people. Most of the neighbours have been fine, it’s a select few that decided to go against everything we do. All I can say is hopefully we can go forward without any more hiccups.

"We just want to thank everyone that’s supported us so far. I really appreciate all the messages on social media. Without that we would feel alone.”