UK: Pak Butchers of Bristol: a Halal story worth telling

www.meattradenewsdaily.com
03 Feb 2011

Pak Butchers of Bristol bringing the Halal meat industry into the 21 st Century.

Abdul Raoof Malik was born in Easton, Bristol in 1973, he is one of 7 children and he attended Whitehall Primary School going on to complete his secondary education at Whitefield Fishponds Secondary School . He left school after failing his GCSE’s at the age of 16 and at the age of 17 he went to Pakistan and got married as per the wish of his parents. He later returned to his education and gained 5 GCSE’s and completed his further education whilst running his businesses.

Returning from his marriage in Pakistan Abdul had the urge to start his own business and to be able to include his family within this venture, looking at the locality (Easton) where he lived Abdul realized the need for a traditional Halal butcher that could cater for the Muslim community as well as the other diverse communities within this unique locality.

He leased a premises at 4 Roman Road, Easton Bristol, that was already a traditional Butchers hence it had all the equipment to start, the owners owed £25,000 to suppliers and were about to go bankrupt, Abdul bravely took on the debt as a charge for the lease saving the previous owner from going bankrupt which meant he had to pay nothing for the premises lease, so he signed a lease and started business.

The business was given a new name, “PAK Butchers.” Pak means, Clean and Pure to the Moslem community.

Through Abdul Raoof’s ideas the business was advertised in the locality and the facts about Halal meat were distributed within Easton , Lawrence Hill, St. Paul ’s and other surrounding areas. Before long people started to flood the shops, claiming the meat tasted better because of the very little blood content and lasted about 7 days longer than meat from other shops i due to it having less bacterial/toxin content in it.

The local media soon picked up on Abdul Raoof’s achievements which have benefited all communities where he is a mentor for young people who want to start their own business.

Having done a number of sessions with youth from Easton in Bristol with  children have been involved with crime and anti-social behaviour where all intervention has failed, Abdul Raoof has managed to communicate and Inspire these local youth’s.

He has volunteered with ‘Community resolve’ a local organization that works with many people and helps youngsters move on from where they are to a new positive and constructive community life.

Abdul Raoof was approached by all the major political parties to stand for Council Election in Easton due to his respect and contacts with the local community. Between 2005 and 2009 he was elected councillor, he was the first Asian, Muslim to be elected on the Council and helped deliver a local ‘PREVENT’ program and was part of a ‘Building the Bridges’ conference.

He was also a mentor for Operation Black vote and was shadowed as a councillor for a period of 1 year. He was nominated by his party to become Bristol ’s first Muslim Lord Mayor in 2007.

Abdul Raoof  became the voice for ‘Halal’ in the south west; he did many press interviews and won several awards for his hard work and dedication to his community.

The Business employed a local work force and in its first year it secured work for 9 people, the shop was given a facelift and new equipment was installed.

Within 3 years the shop was bought from the owner the turnover was increasing and the space was running out to employ more people to meet the demand.

In 1998 Abdul Raoof acquired a new premises on St. Marks Road , in Easton and introduced different types of Halal meats.  This business also grew and a further and four  people were recruited.

Abdul Raoof gained the respect from all communities and he reinvested his time and money within the locality, working with BEST (Bristol East Side Traders) to regenerate the local area with new shop fronts and traffic calming systems, he was very active in meetings and earned more respect.

He joined the local Mosques and other religious organizations and helped build cross cultural bridges between different communities.  He has also set up a Muslim Funeral Committee to help repatriate deceased Muslims to their desired countries of burial.

In 2002 he won the BEST  business award and was nominated for the Inner City 100 Financial times awards.

In 2003 he opened another branch of Pak Butchers in Cardiff which has attracted the same fame. He went on to win the Bristol East Side Traders Award again in 2005.

He also won Business of the Month in February 2005 from Bristol Evening Post and the Jury’s Hotel and  later won 2nd Runner up prize for Business of the year.

Abdul Raoof was short listed for ‘Muslim 100 Jewel awards’ by Lloyds TSB Bank and was featured on www.101pakistanis.com   Since first opening in 1992, Pak Butchers a small sole trading business has now become Pak Butchers UK Ltd, having  several branches throughout the south west.

The business is now thinking of starting a franchise for others to experience and be part of its amazing success.

Abdul Raoof also helped Bristol City Council make a dedicated kitchen for Halal School meals and in doing so gained support from local communities.

He has been approached by Cardiff City Council to help with the same project in Cardiff   he believes in reinvesting in the community and has done several things to help his local traders as well as residents.

Our Bristol stores

The Community point office is an office dedicated to community issues and a gathering place for agencies to better access the local community

• A Traders Association- Abdul Raoof has helped set up ‘Stapleton Road Traders Association’, Stapleton Road has been talked about as the worst crime hot spot in the country, Abdul has helped turn this around by engaging local traders with the community and getting them to make simple and effective changes to enhance the shopping experience for people who visit the locality

• Police Bike Sponsorship- Abdul Raoof sponsored a off road bike to patrol the local cycle tracks and parks to help the locals cut crime and anti-social behaviour Abdul Raoof has worked with the Inspector of the region for policing strategies in the local area and held regular police ‘best surgeries’ within Easton Bristol. He was also the first councillor to open and run a local Legal Advice surgery’ dedicated to his ward, this surgery was run by local Law students who wanted to work Pro-bona to gather experience and at the same time they were able to help the local community,

Abdul Raoof was awarded a ‘Community Champions award’ along with Maleeka Bokhari who was the co-founder of this project. Abdul became the voice for ‘Halal’ in the south west; he did many press interviews and won several awards for his hard work and dedication to his community.

What is halal?
Food is man’s basic need. Without food it is not only difficult but quite impossible to survive. Man must, therefore eat food in some form or another. Whatever man regularly eats can be divided into two broad categories, namely vegetables and meat, both of which are abundantly available.

As far a vegetables are concerned, there has never been any objection to the consumption by human beings of this Divine “creation”. This is because vegetation around us does not appear to possess life. Yet there is some sort of life in it. Had it not been so, plants and trees would neither grown nor borne flowers or fruits.Whereas on the issue of consuming meat, there has been a difference of opinion everywhere and in every community. However, since the day the world came into existence, religion has been guiding man as to which animal is lawful and which is unlawful for his consumption. From the time of the prophethood of Muhammad (Peace be upon him),

Islam has described pure things as lawful. Allah says: O people: Eat what is lawful and good on earth. And do not follow in the footsteps of Satan, for he is to you an avowed enemy. (The Holy Qur’an 2:168)

Pak Butchers UK Ltd personally visit every supplier that they deal with and can guarantee the process of Halal Zabiha, they also take a delegation of local Muslim leaders, Imams and the community to their chosen slaughter houses. If this is of interest to you, you may email us to join the next delegation.

Branches.
4 Roman Road
Easton
Bristol
BS5 6DHOpening Times
9am to 7pm Mon to Sat*
10am to 6pm Sun
*Stores closed Fridays 1.00pm to 2.00pm 0117 330 8432
106 Grosvenor Road
St. Pauls
Bristol
BS2 6YAOpening Times
9am to 7pm Mon to Sat*
10am to 6pm Sun
*Stores closed Fridays 1.00pm to 2.00pm 0117 951 4906
88 St. Marks Road ,
Easton
Bristol
BS5 6JHOpening Times
9am to 7pm Mon to Sat*
10am to 6pm Sun
*Stores closed Fridays 1.00pm to 2.00pm 0117 951 0276
218 Stapleton Road ,
Easton
Bristol
BS5 0NXOpening Times
9am to 7pm Mon to Sat*
10am to 6pm Sun
*Stores closed Fridays 1.00pm to 2.00pm