
Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht
‐
Pakistani businessman and community leader who lived in Manchester
Place of birth
Date of arrival to Britain
Place of death
Manchester
Date of time spent in Britain
1947–77
About
Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht was born in Shillong, Assam in 1924 to a landowning family. During the Second World War, Bakht was stationed in Imphal and Kohima, where he worked as a translator for American troops. Bakht migrated to Britain in the winter of 1947, to work for the Pakistan High Commission in London as a translator for Muslim industrialists, who were being recruited by the Pakistani government to establish businesses in the new state.
After his employment at the Pakistan High Commission, Bakht moved to Birkenhead, where he was seamen's officer for the Indian Seafarers' Hostel at Mere Hall in Birkenhead, run by Brocklebank. In 1950 Bakht opened his own business in Manchester – a clothing store called the Blouse Bar, on 32 Upper Jackson Street. His second business venture – Blackpool’s first Indian restaurant called Shahi – opened on 29 June 1956 and was located on 65A Central Drive. The restaurant was opened by the Beverley Sisters accompanied by the Three Monarchs, Piero Bros and Albert and Les Ward. It was here that he met his wife, Yvonne (Rabaya) Bakht, who studied at Blackpool Technical College and School of Art, whom he married in 1959. Given the seasonal nature of tourism in Blackpool, however, the restaurant was short-lived, and in 1960 Bakht decided to establish a new restaurant in Manchester called Everest. The restaurant was located near the Palace Theatre and was often frequented by performers, such as the dancer and singer Roy Castle.
Alongside his business successes, Bakht was an active community organizer. In 1947 he became a founder and trustee of Victoria Park Mosque, which is now Manchester Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre. He was also General Secretary of the Manchester Pakistan Society’s welfare and information centre. In this capacity, Bakht hosted events which promoted networking amongst Pakistanis in Manchester and forged political and economic connections with prominent individuals who lived in Pakistan. For example, on 22 November 1966 the Manchester Pakistan Society hosted a dinner for the President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan, who was on a twelve-day state visit to Britain, which involved a reception with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as a meeting with representatives of Scotland’s Pakistani societies, a visit to a jute manufacturers in Dundee and visits to various nuclear power facilities across the UK. In Manchester, the president received around 300 guests at the Piccadilly Hotel, including the Lord Mayor of Manchester Nellie Beer, the High Commissioner for Pakistan S. K. Dehlavi, local councillors and prominent Pakistanis from the north of England. Other activities of the Manchester Pakistan Society included organizing annual celebrations for Pakistan’s Independence Day and raising money to send to Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan Wars.
His home in East Didsbury – which was purchased in 1965 – became a site of networking among Pakistanis visiting the UK for educational, business or political reasons. Some of these visitors would stay for months at a time. In the mid-1960s, for example, twenty-three Pakistani students spent time in Bakht’s home; a photograph was taken to mark the occasion.
Bakht died in 1977 after a fatal heart attack.
State visit of President Ayub Khan of Pakistan, November 1966
National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants, Report for 1966 (London: NCCI, 1966)
GB3228.76/1/5, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/5/13, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/3/1, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/4/1-2, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/6/1-3, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/7/1, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/7/5, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76/7/5, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
GB3228.76, Abdul Malik Choudhury Bakht Collection, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester
British Pathe News, ‘Britain Welcomes the President of Pakistan’ (1966), British Film Institute, https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-britain-welcomes-the-president-of-pakistan-1966-online#:~:text=The%20visit%20to%20Britain%20of,and%20lasted%20for%2012%20days
Image credit
Photograph of Malik Bakht, Abdul Malik Bakht Collection, c.1950, GB3228.76/1/1, Courtesy of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre, Manchester. Copyright Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre.