Inn Keeping With Changing Needs
| AR Articles on Britain |
|---|
| Whites as Kulaks (Jan. 2002) |
| Report from Britain (Sep. 2001) |
| Oldham Erupts (Jul. 2001) |
| No Representation (May 2001) |
| The Racial Transformation of Britain (Aug. 2000) |
| Black Crime in Britain (Apr. 1996) |
| Search AmRen.com for Britain |
| More news stories on Britain |
A SWIFT drink down the local has taken on a new twist—at what is thought to be the country’s first Islamic ‘pub’.
Reminiscent of the 19th century temperance bars, the Halal Inn, on Featherstall Road, is a public house which has most of the trappings of a traditional British hostelry, but is missing what many would think is the key ingredient—alcohol!
Owner Azizur Rahman and business partner Muzahid Khan spotted a gap in the market and came up with the idea to provide an alternative social gathering place for local Muslims.
Mr Khan explained: “It’s a gathering place for people who abide by strict Islamic rulings and don’t like going to places where they serve alcohol.
“What we’ve done is turn the bar into a soft drink and juice bar, with snooker tables, darts, karam boards and nasheeds (Islamic songs) in the background.
“As a non-alcoholic venue it will appeal to Muslims more, but it is essentially for people from all backgrounds.”
The building, formerly the Westwood Inn, also includes a restaurant serving daily specials, a prayer room, study room, business lounge and steam room.
The drinking hole with a difference opened its doors in December and has been growing in popularity.
“Halal Inn is a name which most people find intriguing,” said Mr Khan. “There was a lot of conversations in the community about the whole concept and a lot of people were wanting to know more about it. We got a lot of word of mouth publicity and have even had visits from people from Birmingham and London wanting information on recreating the brand.
“It’s an alternative to your normal inn—a pub essentially means a place where people procure alcohol, but that’s what we’re trying to get away from.
“Throughout the world there has been a whole movement about the word halal and products that are branded as halal. Muslims are a major consumer group.
“Because of all this going on we thought that in Oldham we should have a brand of our own. It was easy to replace the word Westwood with Halal. It makes perfect sense.”
The venue, which opens from 4.30pm to 11.30pm, will also host a monthly Islamic quiz night and has created a snooker and karam league.
(Posted on April 10, 2008)
Comments
I wonder if the new bar will have a dress code - chadors for women, perhaps? And I thought music was forbidden in Islamic countries. This is an example of creeping sharia - as more ethnic Brits leave England, ‘bars’ like this one will become more commonplace, in order to accommodate the ever-increasing Muslim population. Eventually, the traditional bars, where booze is (was) served), will have no choice but to sell out to the more powerful halal establishments. Or that may not happen - the Muslims will take over England and simply outlaw those types of establishments. Either way, this is just another example of how England may be doomed.
By the way, what’s a ‘Karam Board’?
Posted by Matt at 6:16 PM on April 10
Sounds good to me. Count your blessings, Europe, that Muslims don’t drink alcohol (at least in theory). If they did, things would be a lot worse.
Posted by jewamongyou at 6:39 PM on April 10
Non-Islamics can now open bars serving alcohol in Islamic countries; right ? Islam believes in equality, doesn’t it ?
Posted by Michigan patriot at 7:24 PM on April 10
Given the high rate of alcoholism among the Brits, maybe they could learn something here. And I’ll bet the Muslim punters have a greater tendency to have children in wedlock and take care of them as well.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Brits could give up alcohol and welfare and the Muslims give up beheadings and blowing things up?
Posted by Flamethrower at 10:38 PM on April 10
Karam Board:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrom
By the way folks, not EVERYTHING that Muslims do is evil. No need to hyperventilate every time Muslims introduce something into the Western world; it’s been going on at least since the Crusades. Well, okay, you can hyperventilate about Algebra; that’s evil if you’re a school kid.
Posted by jewamongyou at 12:41 AM on April 11
Don’t for a minute believe that the Muslims do not drink alcohol. Take a look at the drunk driving arrest rate in Kuwait and Saudi. The Muslims are the biggest group of hypocrits I have ever known (next to 12th century Catholics)I have known Saudi and Kuwaiti Muslims to attend B-Bque pig pickins’ in S.C. and go to strip clubs all over the east coast. Muslim men are the biggest offenders by far since if the women do it, they can be beaten to death by the men.
Posted by Skip at 1:36 AM on April 11
“Throughout the world there has been a whole movement about the word halal and products that are branded as halal. Muslims are a major consumer group.”
What this really means is that Islam is spreading worldwide and is unstoppable.
and
Matt,
a Karam Board is a board game where they flick discs into pockets, they sit on the floor whilst playing.
Also, I doubt whether women would be allowed into these Islamic centres. Islamic men don’t socialise with Islamic women, many of whom, even in Britain, are not permitted to leave the home unchaperoned by a close male relative, their menfolk don’t even eat with them at home, so mixing in a ‘bar’ is unlikely. Women might be permitted into a backroom for study or to prepare the food and drink,clean up etc., but as in Mosques where women pray separately, segregation is an all important part of Islamic lifestyle.
Arc.
Posted by Arcadian at 6:52 AM on April 11
This development reminds me of The Flying Inn is a novel first published in 1914 by G. K. Chesterton. He has proven to have had startling and disturbing prescience. But at the same time, he provided an optimistic, redemptive conclusion, a happy ending. His English and Irish heroes showed genuine British pluck, and regained the right to alcohol, together with the other liberties and institutions that only Britain has been able to create and implement for the benefit of the entire world.
It was set in a future England dominated by a form of Ottoman Islam that has subsumed the English ruling class and so come to dominate English political and social life of the country. Islamic sharia law has resulted in alcohol sales being prohibited. The plot centers around the efforts of the aptly named publican Humphrey Pump and a heroic Irish mercenary Captain Patrick Dalroy, who roam the country in their alcohol-laden cart carrying a sign that allows them to evade the Islamic decree. Ultimately, the sharia based government is overthrown, and Englishmen are allowed to imbibe once again at their traditional pubs.
Even then, in 1914, Chesterton and others had some inkling of what was in the making. But just as his treatment of the subject was somewhat fay and understated, hopefully Jean Raspail’s forebodings are overstated and much too robust. Still, both writers do provide a portrait of what the West must dread and resist. By providing these scenarios they help their audience give shape to the social catastrophes we must withstand.
Posted by Greg Deane at 9:04 AM on April 11
“No need to hyperventilate every time Muslims introduce something into the Western world…Well, okay, you can hyperventilate about Algebra; that’s evil if you’re a school kid.” (Posted by jewamongyou at 12:41 AM on April 11)
Well, of course algebra shouldn’t really be considered evil, since its development (into forms scarcely recognizable as akin to the high school subject) as well as the development of the rest of mathematics is, in my opinion, THE most beautiful creation of Western Civilization. Math has been primarily a White thing, with many important contributions by Jews in the last century, and other lesser (or at least much less numerous) contributions by other peoples through the centuries.
Sorry; I’ve become a touchy guy when mathematics is spoken of disparagingly, even in jest. It’s sad that this beautiful and most pleasurable of intellectual activities is so often taught in a way that brings so much pain to so many people.
Arabs did make some contributions to algebra (and to other mathematics), but possibly the word itself, “algebra,” was their greatest contribution.
Posted by H. Dumpty at 12:47 PM on April 11
Karom is played standing up. I have a board kept ‘slippy’ with talcom powder. Round discs are ‘flipped’ by thumb and forefinger to ‘Karom’ or ‘cannon’ another disc into one of four corner pockets as in billiards. Great game and no need for a huge amount of space as is needed to wield a cue to play pool et al. The board is simply placed on any convenient table. Back to the ‘Halal Inn’ and please note the activities listed. Quiz night?? Which planes fly between UK and USA and when? I bet the ‘business lounge’ features videos, and the facility for making more of them. Al Gebra is indeed an arabic word, so is Al Cohol. I don’t think Al Capone will feature. Muslim women will NOT do the cooking or cleaning as they must stay at home, especially at that time of night. Some local ‘halal’ restaurant will be contracted with all proceeds being donated to some worthy cause, such as buying huge sacks of weedkiller. Of course muslims don’t drink booze, nor did anyone during prohibition in USA, after all, it’s against the law!! Anyway, islamic heaven promises copious quantities of wine and virgins, so where do these originate? Each bomber multiplied by .. how many virgins? That’s a lot of virgins, and I suppose they have to be supplied either sunni or shia. What a logistical nightmare and explains why Al Gebra was invented. I must pop into this Halal Inn and order a root beer. I will report back… perhaps!
Posted by Yorkshireman at 12:06 PM on April 12
For a long while Marriott Hotels would not serve alcohol, because the Marriott family is Mormon. Eventually, of course, they gave in to the great god, The Bottom Line. One wonders how long it will be before the Muslims do the same.
Posted by ALLAN at 12:50 PM on April 12