A film, Desi: A Pub Story was recently commissioned by the Campaign for Real Ale, winning Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2025 London Independent Film Festival, with director Zaki Solosho taking a fascinating deep dive into the history while visiting venues across the UK such at the Blue Gates Hotel and the Ivy Bush in Smethwick, alongside London’s the Scotsman, the Gladstone Arms and the Regency. The inspiration for the film was David Jesudason’s book, Desi Pubs: A Guide to British Indian Pubs, Food & Culture, whose research saw him visit over 200 Desi pubs in the UK. From venues that were originally created out of necessity to serve an Indian demographic, these spots are now bustling joints serving the whole community with curry and a pint. Gravesend offers a good glimpse of this for anyone who appreciates a sizzling tandoor platter.
Playing a key role in the town’s culinary DNA is the sizeable Sikh community, which first arrived in the community in the 1950s, with the striking Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara temple as a focal point, the largest Gurdwara in Europe and one of the largest outside India. From this starting point, there are a host of places serving excellent Punjabi cuisine.
The influence of the Sikh community reveals itself with a plethora of Punjabi restaurants, as well as the presence of ‘Desi’ pubs, namely former British pub sites owned and run by a landlord of Indian origin and serving predominantly Punjabi food, while maintaining traditional elements of beers on tap, dart boards and sports on the television. The term ‘Desi’ is from the Hindustani, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘desh’ meaning ‘country’, with these pubs originating in the 1960s – across the Midlands in particular – following migration from the Indian subcontinent to the UK.
Stepping off the train at Gravesend station the first building you’ll pass as you head into town is Punjabi Junction, a white weatherboarded pub with a menu including goat curry on the bone (bakra), minced spiced curry with peas (keema mutter), chicken tikka noodles and ‘Desi daal’ of black lentils (Urad daal) with onion, ginger, tomatoes and cream. The prawn puri is excellent, packing a chilli punch and served on a featherlight fried chapati, as does the generous portion of tandoor lamb chops.
Punjabi Bagicha is a prime example of the genre, with an extensive menu taking in sharing sizzling platters of seekh kebabs, tandoori chicken, fish Amritsari and ‘Punjabi chips’. From the tandoor section you may choose fat lamb chops, tandoori king prawns, puffy naan breads and rotis, while drinking a Kingfisher lager and watching the 4pm ‘Super Sunday’ kick off on Sky Sports showing in the corner. Malai chicken tikka is beautifully charred and juicy, marinated in yoghurt and herbs, served alongside a selection of dips (mango chutney, mint yoghurt and chilli) cutely presented in chilled copper pots. Accompanied by a naan and perhaps an onion bhaji chaat from ‘Cheeky Chaat Corner’, we have just unlocked one of the best ways to enjoy the weekend football.
Curry Mecca proudly states ‘Est. 1972’ on their sign and rightly so: this may be the buzziest, happiest dining room in Gravesend on a packed weekend evening. Outstanding keema naan to go alongside a sizzling jalfrezi or Bangalore duck, with genuine family-run bonhomie topping things off with a flourish – a loyal crowd of regulars agree.
The Gandhi opened in 1996 on the site of a late 18th-century pub, the Fisherman’s. It serves Indian classics in a restaurant setting rather than ‘Desi’ style but is worth dropping in for slick service and their version of murgh masala, chunks of chicken stuffed with minced lamb and spinach, in a creamy masala sauce. A short walk away is Taste of Punjab – form the owners of Desi pub Bas Bar in Strood – where the weekend menu offers all-day dining options of lamb seekh and chicken tikka rolls; their chicken lollipops served on the bone are a fun snacking choice.
Chattorey chooses to do things a little differently with its bold, modern restaurant branding and tight menu. Generous portions of chicken biryani and intensely spiced lamb chops, sit alongside ‘Lala’s goat curry’, ‘Karim’s Delhi lamb’ and a credo stating they’d had enough of the ‘same old balti houses, all serving sloppy red curries that all taste the same’. Bravo.
An outlier surprise spot was discovered while musing ‘where is that wonderful aroma of curry coming from?’ It led to an unlikely looking doorway, a tucked away jewel of a takeaway that could so easily be missed. Sun Asian Food is where a Sri Lankan and Thai partnership knock out an outstanding melange of both cuisines. A tempting daily rotating selection of samosas, kottu rotti and Sri Lankan curries – fiery spiced chicken livers a highlight – sit alongside top tier versions of Thai panang and green and red curries. The value is astonishing with the option to choose two curries in one box for £5-£7. Snacks of chicken wings and thighs, spring rolls and Indian pastries round things off and make this a must visit.
In addition, Gravesend boasts one of the oldest surviving marketplaces in the country, its first charter granted in 1268 by King Henry III, established on a spot alongside the River Thames when it was simply open land – today that same space is home to Hatch, a collection of street food vendors housed in a grand, late Victorian building. Here, Ms Earlyn’s is worth a visit for excellent Caribbean classics of oxtail and dumplings, jerk chicken, saltfish and Dhal Puri roti wraps, and Kathmandu Street for homemade momo dumplings and Nepali chow mein. But first, kick things off with a drink in the 15th century Three Daws, looking across the river to Tilbury – a location that has seen Pocahontas, Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys pass through.
The wider UK milieu of Desi pubs has a strong presence and connection to the Midlands, beginning with the first known landlord of a British pub, Sohan Singh, taking on the Durham Ox in Leicester in 1962. While not strictly Desi pubs, iterations on the theme now include the likes of London’s the Three Falcons, The Great Indian, the Tamil Crown and The Raglan.
