{"id":7519,"date":"2026-01-23T10:03:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/?p=7519"},"modified":"2026-01-23T10:03:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:03:50","slug":"birminghams-first-halal-food-market-set-to-launch-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/uncategorized\/7519\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham&#8217;s First Halal Food Market Set to Launch Next Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>JAKARTA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Entrepreneurs preparing to launch Birmingham&#8217;s inaugural fully halal food marketplace say they envision the venue becoming a connector between diverse communities in Britain&#8217;s second-largest city.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Patel, who founded Art Quarter where the new market will operate, noted that despite Birmingham&#8217;s well-established reputation for diversity, the city has lacked centrally-located spaces developed and managed by ethnic minority communities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a part of me that&#8217;s feeling really grateful and blessed that we&#8217;re the first, but also I think it&#8217;s going to really help with generating footfall into the city,&#8221; Patel explained.<\/p>\n<p>The market is scheduled to open its doors in late January.<\/p>\n<h2>Building Community Connections<\/h2>\n<p>Patel emphasized that the project extends beyond commercial objectives, expressing hopes that it will foster connections across different groups and reduce social divisions within Birmingham&#8217;s population.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s something we should all be proud of,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The building housing the food court also features a women-only hair salon designed specifically for clients who wear headscarves. The private space allows women to remove their head coverings comfortably.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve created this safe space where they can now remove their scarves,&#8221; Patel noted. &#8220;There&#8217;s no windows in, there&#8217;s no male staff, there&#8217;s no male customers \u2014 and they&#8217;re getting to have this inclusive experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Vendors See Opportunity for Cultural Representation<\/h2>\n<p>Sakib Hussain, whose dessert and brunch concept Kacao will occupy space in the market, represents one of several participating food vendors. Hussain reflected on the significance of the opportunity from a cultural perspective.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Coming from a south Asian background myself, we don&#8217;t push ourselves as much and go for these types of risks,&#8221; he acknowledged. &#8220;I feel like we&#8217;re not given these sorts of opportunities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another vendor, Umar Fayyaz from Kohitayn, plans to offer cuisine blending Japanese and Middle Eastern influences. Fayyaz sees the market&#8217;s location as strategically positioned in an already high-traffic area, providing dining options that complement rather than duplicate what&#8217;s available at the nearby Bullring shopping center.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel like the pull that we bring to the Muslim community and the non-Muslim community, everyone can experience what we want to offer,&#8221; Fayyaz said.<\/p>\n<p>The marketplace represents Birmingham&#8217;s first dedicated halal food hall, catering to the city&#8217;s substantial Muslim population while welcoming diners from all backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Original Article:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBC. (2026, January 23). <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">City&#8217;s first halal food court to open in January.<\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Retrieved from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cd9zk9wyvk2o<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JAKARTA\u00a0\u2014 Entrepreneurs preparing to launch Birmingham&#8217;s inaugural fully halal food marketplace say they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4913,72,4912],"class_list":["post-7519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art-quarter","tag-birmingham","tag-halal-food-court","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7521,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519\/revisions\/7521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/souqtimes.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}