After a year without dining in, Gillingham Tandoori is getting ready to welcome customers back to dine in restaurant – to the delight of many local people.

Gillingham Tandoori has been part of the town since 1990. For 36 years, it has been a place for family meals, celebrations, midweek dinners and plenty of takeaways. At the heart of it all has been Mohammed, the owner, who has become a familiar and much-loved face to generations of customers.

Last year, Mohammed made the difficult decision to close the restaurant side of the business and concentrate on takeaway and delivery. There simply weren’t enough people coming through the doors to make dining in viable, and after so many years the restaurant was also in need of refurbishment. The takeaway and delivery service continued throughout, allowing customers to enjoy their favourite dishes at home.
But even though the restaurant wasn’t open, people kept asking Mohammed when they could come back and eat in.

Then, this summer, Gillingham Tandoori received a rather special reminder of just how much it means to local people when it won a Gillingham Business Award for ‘My Favourite Business’.

For Mohammed, that was the encouragement he needed.

Work is now underway to give the restaurant a completely new look, together with a refresh of the menu. The hope is to reopen later this September.

The reaction to the reopening plans on social media has already been fantastic, with customers sharing their excitement about being able to sit down and enjoy a meal at Gillingham Tandoori again.

After everything the business has been through, Mohammed is hoping this new chapter will bring back the busy, welcoming restaurant that Gillingham Tandoori used to be.

‘The support of local people will make a real difference, whether that means coming in for a meal, continuing to order takeaways, recommending the restaurant to friends or simply spreading the word,’ he says.

*Gillingham Tandoori is based at The Square in Gillingham. Telephone: 01747 822579