Currying on the family tradition

Apr 28 2008 By Will Oliphant

LIKE father like son... Tahmoor Khazir has filled his dad's shoes by becoming the new frontman for Broad Street restaurant Celebrity Balti.

The 22-year-old has taken the spot left vacant after his father Khizhar Awayat, who was a familiar smiling face to Broad Street revellers for 14 years, died of liver failure earlier this year.

Tahmoor, of Small Heath, was due to take a job in a supermarket until his family advised him to take his father's spot.

"My dad was a really popular guy," said Tahmoor. "So when they offered me the job I thought it would be a good tribute to him to take it.

"All my family thought it was a good idea for me to take over from him and it feels good to be taking over the post."

Tahmoor added: "It was very sad about my father, and I still get a lot of people who come up asking after him. I just hope I can do as good a job as he did."

Restaurant manager Humayun Hanif, who was the first to have the job of greeting customers at the restaurant when it was opened by his father nearly 16 years ago, said: "It feels good to have Khizar's son take over the job."

"He's settling in really well and we still get a lot of people who ask where the 'old man' is. One customer came in with a lot of photographs of him taken over the years and we have put one up in the restaurant.

"This seemed like a very good way to remember him and to carry on the line of having a friendly face on the door. It's a very important role because it's the public face of the restaurant so I'm glad we've got it in safe hands."

Mr Hanif also said that, because Tahmoor's outfit is a traditional Kashmir wedding garment, he hoped to get a woman wearing a sari to join him in the future.