The Untold History of Desi Pubs & Mixed Grills: Racism, Resistance & Reinvention

This episode uncovers a story far richer than food culture. We go back to the 1960s, when Black and Asian migrants in Britain were refused service at pubs displaying signs that read “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.” In the West Midlands, Punjabi foundry workers created their own spaces, places that offered safety, solidarity, and, later, a new cultural identity. These early “desi pubs” weren’t restaurants; they were hubs of resistance. Activists organised inside them, and Bhangra musicians played in makeshift back rooms. In 1965, Malcolm X even walked into Smethwick to see Britain’s colour bar for himself, experiencing refusal of service in a local pub that now stands at the centre of this history. Over time, these spaces evolved. Once Punjabis felt safe inside them, food emerged as a defining feature, a fusion of working-class Britain and diasporic Punjab. What began as a refuge became a cultural invention: the mixed grill. This dish, found almost nowhere else in the world, remains tied to the industrial heart of Birmingham, the rhythms of the Bhangra scene, and a community rebuilding itself far from home. Today, as the UK faces rising tensions once again, the story of the desi pub is more relevant than ever. It reminds us how communities resist exclusion and how culture is born in the spaces where people fight simply to belong.