Falkirk's popular Sanam restaurant marks its golden anniversary

Sanam Tandoori in the town’s Callendar Road turns 50 on Friday, September 11.

In marking the milestone, the Anwar family are paying tribute to its founder, the late Mr Muhammad Anwar.

Back in 1976, Mr Anwar opened the doors of a small Indian restaurant in the town and named it Shish Mahal.

This week, that business he founded – which has been known for most of the last five decades as Sanam – marks 50 years of trading, still in the same town and still run by the same family.

Half a century is a rare milestone for any independent restaurant, and for the Anwar family the anniversary is as much a tribute as a celebration.

Mr Anwar arrived in the town at a time when there were few Indian restaurants in the area. His family say he built the business “on long hours, hospitality and a simple belief that people should be looked after properly at the table.

"Every part of the restaurant that customers recognise today began with him.”

Mr Anwar had come to Scotland from Harappa as a boy of ten, delivered milk in Glasgow’s West End and learned his trade in the kitchens of the city's Indian restaurants, among them the legendary Shish Mahal on Gibson Street, before taking the keys to a shop on Callendar Road and placing a notice in the local paper.

Mr Anwar sadly passed away in December 2021 and is dearly missed by his family, his staff and his customers who knew him for the question he asked at every table, every night: “All okay the noo?”

Over the last five decades, much has changed for the business - the name above the door became Sanam, the neon of the 1990s gave way to the frontage regulars know now, and menus, tastes and the town itself have moved on.

However, what has not changed at the restaurant is the family behind it, or the customers – many of them second or third generation – who have marked their own birthdays, engagements, Friday nights and family gatherings in the same dining room their parents did.

The family said: “Fifty years belongs to our dad, and to the customers of Falkirk who kept coming back.

“He started this in 1976 with very little, and everything we have today came from his work and the loyalty of the people who walked through that door.

"We would like to thank every single customer, past and present, for supporting a family business for half a century. It has meant everything to us.”

A special Shish Mahal night is taking place at the restaurant on Friday to mark the occasion with customers encouraged to dress for the 70s and 80s. Diners will be able to enjoy some of the dishes originally on the menu.

The continued popularity of the local restaurant with its customers was evident as the event was quickly fully booked.

For the Anwar family, the anniversary also marks the start of a new chapter with a new menu due to be announced shortly.