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News

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Birmingham in the wake of the recent riots

19th August 2011

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today visited a community centre near the spot where three men were killed during last week's riots.

The Duke and Duchess met local residents and business people at Summerfield Community Centre in Winson Green, Birmingham.

The royal couple also met local dignitaries and emergency services staff.

The centre is a short distance from the scene in Dudley Road where three men were struck by a car as they tried to protect shops and homes from looters.

Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, died in the early hours of August 10. They were buried yesterday after an open-air funeral service attended by more than 20,000 mourners.

The Duke and Duchess were greeted outside the community centre by Paul Sabapathy, Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands, Councillor Anita Ward, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, and Chris Sims, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

They began their visit with a private meeting with the parents of the men who were killed.

The couple spent 15 minutes speaking with the bereaved families before moving into the centre's sports hall to meet members of the emergency services and local dignitaries.

Mandy Sankey, nurse manager at Birmingham Children's Hospital, said The Duke and Duchess seemed "genuinely interested" in how hospitals in the city responded to the disorder.

She said: "The Duke said 'We're sure you have already heard how grateful we are but we wanted to come here to say thank you in person'.

"They seemed genuinely interested in how we dealt with it."

Lesley Clare, a nurse at Birmingham's City Hospital, said: "The Duchess was saying it must have been really hard to keep the services going.

"I asked her if it was still OK to say congratulations on the wedding and she laughed and said 'Yes, it is still OK to say it, thank you'."

Nathan Dennis, director of a Birmingham-based youth engagement group, said he told William it was important to analyse the motivation behind the riots.

"I told him it is important to interpret what the young people were trying to say," he said.

"I think it's vitally important that we create the right forums and groups where we can interpret what young people are saying and feeling.

"I said that to The Duke and I said it to his wife and I said it to David Cameron when he visited.

"He said that it seemed sensible and he said thank you."

Mr Dennis, who runs First Class Youth, also asked The Duke how he was finding married life and complimented him on his wedding day attire.

The Duke laughed and said: "Did you like my uniform?"

He added: "It was a very fun day", before asking Mr Dennis whether he was married.

On finding out that the youth worker was married and had celebrated his wedding at Villa Park, The Duke, himself an Aston Villa fan, said: "Are you an Aston Villa fan? Let me shake your hand again."

By the time The Duke and Duchess left the community centre, a large crowd had gathered outside, who clapped, cheered and whistled as the couple departed for the second part of their visit to the city.

Later the couple visited the Machan Express coffee shop in Birmingham city centre which was looted by rioters.

Hundreds of people lined Newhall Street to await the arrival of The Duke and Duchess and clapped and cheered as the royals got out of their car.

Their Royal Highnesses met owner Ajay Bhatia, his wife Monika and staff during
the visit to the popular outlet.

Despite rioters causing nearly £20,000 of damage to the shop and losing more than £15,000 of stock, Mr Bhatia still opened the next day.

The Duke and Duchess chatted with Mr Bhatia - who showed them a copy of the Birmingham Mail featuring the front page story reporting the damage to his business - before meeting some of his customers.

The Duchess asked Mr Bhatia how many looters had targeted the shop and she looked surprised when told it was as many as 70.

The couple then sat down at a table with Mr and Mrs Bhatia and talked about the effect last week's rioting had on the shop.

The Duke told Mr and Mrs Bhatia: "I am sorry this has happened to you."

His Royal Highness also joked with Mr Bhatia about the fortunes of the Indian cricket team, who are being outplayed by England in the current Test series.

Speaking before the visit, Mr Bhatia said more than 50 thugs - including some as young as 10 - ransacked his business after smashing through the glass front door on the night of 9th August.

He said they looted cigarettes, spirits, beer, wine and chocolate, and caused nearly £20,000 of damage during the three-and-a-half-minute raid.

"On that Tuesday I was trying to leave early as I'd heard something was going to happen that day," he recalled.

"I closed the shop at 6pm and left in a taxi. I reached home at about 6.14pm when I got a call from one of the residents who lives above the shop saying 'Ajay, your shop is being looted. I can't even count them, there's so many - there must be 50, 60 or more'.

"They told me not to come as it wouldn't be good for me. I called the police from home and they said they had already received 15 calls from the residents that live around here."

Mr Bhatia, 52, from Smethwick, West Midlands, praised the police for their quick response and said they could not have done any more to help.

"When I came here it was really bad and my heart was pumping. The police would not allow me to go inside for forensic reasons," he said.

"After about an hour they took me inside. It was just a three-and-a-half-minute operation.

"I must praise the police for how swiftly they acted. They got hold of a few of the looters but because they are under-age their hands are tied.

"They took all the cigarettes, which is the most expensive thing in here. They took the spirits and the wines, beers and chocolate.

"They even took chewing gum worth 50p. They just picked up the boxes and put them in their bags they had brought from home.

"One was 10 years old, who was caught on CCTV picking up the cigarettes.

"They took whatever they could get their hands on. I have got no words to describe them."

Mr Bhatia, who came to the UK from India in 2004, said the local community had rallied around to help and clean up the devastation - with one person even donating £200.

"I am really grateful to the community round here who have come and helped. They have literally gone out of their way," Mr Bhatia said.

"We were determined that we were not going to close the shop and we opened at midday the next day.

"We are a family business and we can't afford to lose the sales because every single penny counts in this business.

"We have got bills to pay and I cannot afford to have the shop closed."

Despite the shock of the raid, Mr Bhatia vowed that he was not going to allow the looters to beat him.

"I am not going to give it up because the whole community has stood by me and helped me out," he said.

"I have been overcome by the generosity - my heart goes out to them.

"If you are determined to do something you can do it, even during a recession. I am not going to give up, no way."

Speaking after The Duke and Duchess left, Mr Bhatia described at length the conversation he had with them.

"The Duke was very happy that the community had come forward to help out and we were mainly discussing about what happened and about the looters and about how old they were," Mr Bhatia said.

"We then had a light moment about the cricket. The Duke asked about how I feel about losing.

"I said we're going to bounce back in the one-day internationals."

Mr Bhatia said the royal couple were interested to hear about his family and that his 19-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter were both studying at local universities.

"It was just about general things, about my family and how they were," he said.

"I told him how I had worked in Indonesia and Jamaica in all the big five-star hotels, but wanted to set up this little project in England.

"We started a year ago and The Duke said it was amazing how we had done it and they were really pleased about it.

"I told him my application has been approved to get my British passport - I got the news yesterday.

"They were very happy about it and asked if I still want to choose Britain to be a home and I said 'Yes, definitely'.

"I feel myself to be a proud British man."

Mr Bhatia spoke of his joy that The Duke and Duchess had come to his coffee shop - and said his family did not believe him.

"I think this has been my lifetime achievement. My heart is overcome with what happened today, with all the pain and suffering that I went through - emotionally, physically and financially," he said.

"But there is a silver lining and this is going to be a big thing for me now.

"I am amazed they chose my shop. It was a surprise. I was just told that some VIPs were coming.

"I could anticipate that something big was going to happen. I spoke to my family last night and we were having some dinner.

"They said 'No, Dad, you are just making it up. You are just joking, it can't be possible. How can they come to our shop?'.

"It's like a dream."

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