Former Foleshill pub reopens as coffee and ice cream shop

A historic former pub in Coventry is now selling cakes and ice creams.



The General Wolfe, in Foleshill Road has been renamed Mushtaq’s with new plastic signs up and is selling desserts as well as tea and coffee.

It is all a far cry from its former incarnation as one of the city’s iconic music venues.

It comes a few weeks after the Telegraph reported the owners had opened a Polish convenience store in part of the listed building.

The new use of the General Wolfe does not breach planning rules.

The venue, which has hosted music giants such as U2, the Eurythmics and Robert Plant, closed late last year. From the early 60s to the early 90s it was the place to be for the city’s music-lovers. The routine for the video of The Specials’ hit Ghost Town was even worked out in the bar.

Coventry City Council had ordered its syndicate of owners to remove roller shutters from the building and modify window replacements, which breached planning guidelines.

Filthy Foleshill restaurant and takeaway in former General Wolfe pub shut down

A FILTHY restaurant and takeaway in the former General Wolfe pub in Coventry has been forced to close.

Environmental health officers shut down Foleshill fast food joint Bab E Khybar because it was infested with mice.

The premises was also not being cleaned properly, there was no food safety management programme and there were poor hygiene practices.

The takeaway at the former pub, in Foleshill Road, was run by two men, one of whom had previously been banned from running any food business.

It will remain closed until measures are taken to remove the risk to public health.

Coun Rachel Lancaster (Lab, Holbrooks), chairman of Coventry City Council’s licensing and regulatory committee, said closing a business was always a last resort. Our team is there to offer help and support to ensure the hygiene standards are as good as any person would expect,” she said.

“But when that is not found to be the case then closure is always an option as the safety of the Coventry public is always our priority.

“The presence of mice in a food business in particular is extremely serious as it poses a significant risk to public health.” Bab E Khybar was jointly run by Akbar Jan and Israr Raja.

The council’s environmental health officers closed the takeaway last week after conditions had not improved since previous poor standards were identified in May and June.

The closure was reinforced by a “hygiene emergency prohibition order” granted by Coventry Magistrates Court.

It came to light that Mr Jan, 46, already has four previous convictions for food hygiene offences committed in Birmingham and had been served with a prohibition order preventing him from having any involvement with the running of food businesses.

Boss of Coventry restaurant closed after rat droppings found in food is jailed

The former boss of a Coventry restaurant which was closed down after horrified city health officials found rat dropping on the food has been jailed.

Akbar Jan had pleaded guilty at Coventry Crown Court to 16 breaches of food hygiene regulations at the Bab E Khybar restaurant and takeaway in Foleshill Road.

Jan, aged 47, whose address on a company directors’ website is given as the same Foleshill Road address as the restaurant, but who lives in Bradford, was jailed for 27 weeks.

At an earlier hearing Judge Richard Griffith-Jones described the conditions in the kitchen of Bab E Khyber as ‘disgraceful, repellent, disgusting.’

And he said the kitchen hygiene at the restaurant in the former General Wolfe pub was so bad that members of the public had their health put at risk.

The judge had heard that Jan was the senior partner in the Bab E Khyber, which he ran with 25-year-old Israr Raja.

When Coventry City Council environmental health officers inspected the restaurant’s kitchen in July last year, they were horrified at what they found.

Despite advice given during two earlier inspections, the kitchen was in a filthy condition with grime and grease on the surfaces, rat droppings on the stored food and dead flies everywhere.

Food itself was being stored unhygienically, with food which needed to be chilled being kept at too warm a temperature, and there was no food safety management system in place.

Because of the state of the kitchen it posed ‘a significant risk to the health of customers’ – so the officials applied for a closure order which was granted by Coventry magistrates.

It emerged that Jan, the senior partner who was listed as a director of the restaurant, had four previous prosecutions for food hygiene offences in Birmingham and had been banned from being involved in running any food business.

At the crown court in Leamington in December last year Raja, of Dorset Road, Radford, Coventry, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work after he had admitted a number of hygiene offences.

Judge Griffith-Jones had told him: “If I thought you were the orchestrator, I would have no hesitation in saying a custodial sentence was appropriate. But you were not, and you are a young man who has not been in trouble before.”

Environmental health officers closed the premises more than a year ago. The General Wolfe, which hosted bands such as U2 and The Eurythmics before they were famous, closed in 2011.

Toro's Steakhouse to open in Coventry's former Old General Wolfe pub



Restaurant chain Toro’s Steakhouse will be dishing up its prime cuts in Coventry after taking over a famous city pub.

The halal-accredited restaurant is expected to open in the summer at the former Old General Wolfe on Foleshill Road.

The new eatery will create a number of jobs when it opens - with recruitment for staff taking place this month.

It will be the first Toro’s Steakhouse in Coventry and Warwickshire - with the original restaurant launched in early 2009 in Leicester, followed by the chain’s fast food restaurant called ‘Toros Express’.

The chain currently has restaurants in Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Manchester - with two further sites in Harrow and Derby due to open soon.

It not only sells steak, but also has a range of chicken, fish and lamb dishes, as well as salads, platters and exotic freshly-made mock-tails.

The restaurant is famous for using traditional South African braai and basting recipes combined with a modern twist and halal ingredients.

The new Coventry restaurant is part of the company’s ongoing expansion plans to ‘meet the ever growing demand’.

The former Old General Wolfe pub has been empty for some time after closing in 2011.

After the pub closed, the venue went on to be a fast food joint called Bab E Khybar - but it was shut by environmental health officers in July 2012 after it was found to be infested with mice.

Bosses at 'death trap' former Coventry pub 'put profit before safety'

The bosses of a former pub in Coventry put profit before safety and ignored fire safety breaches which turned the building in to a “death trap”, a court heard.

Safety checks at the old General Wolfe, in Foleshill Road, revealed a number of problems including faulty fire alarms and missing or defective fire doors on the upper floors, which had been turned into sleeping accommodation.

One of the three men in charge, Bashir Ahmed, was handed a 30-week suspended jail sentence over the condition of the building, which was leased to his company.

Ahmed, who was also running Mushtaq’s food firm in Birmingham, was prosecuted by West Midlands Fire Service.

He appeared in court along with two other men, Israr Rajah and Akbar Jan, while Mushtaq’s Ltd was also prosecuted.

The former General Wolfe was leased to Mushtaq’s in December 2011 and the company ran a sweet shop on the ground floor and another part of the five-storey building was sub-let to Rajah and Jan.

The pair opened an Indian restaurant and there were bedrooms on the upper floors, Warwick Crown Court heard.

The fire safety breaches were found during inspections in June and July 2012.

Mark Jackson, for the fire service, said: “The breaches would have been obvious to anyone with the slightest regard to the safety of others.

“The defendants were running businesses for profit and the plain inference is they put profit before the safety of others.

“Even though Mushtaq’s and Mr Ahmed were fully aware the premises were to be used as a restaurant and for sleeping accommodation, the premises were passed over to Mr Jan and Mr Raja in an extremely dangerous state.”

After the first safety inspection , Mr Jackson said fire officers banned Jan and Raja from using the upper floors for sleeping as they were “so concerned at the risk of death or serious injury in the event of a fire”.

But the premises were still being used for sleeping the following month, with rooms available to rent for £150-a-month.

The court heard there was a fire at the site in April 2014, after Jan and Raja had left following their prosecution for food hygiene offences at the restaurant.

A number of fire safety deficiencies remained at that time, Mr Jackson said.

Balbir Singh, for Ahmed, aged 58, of Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, said the premises already had sleeping accommodation when Mushtaq’s took it on “so they assumed the fire doors and the like were already in place”.

As well as the suspended sentence, Ahmed was also ordered to perform 200 hours unpaid work and pay £2,000 costs.

Mushtaq’s Ltd, was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

Raja and Jan also admitted breaching safety regulations.

Raja, 29, of Dorset Road, Radford, Coventry, was given a six-month suspended sentence.

He was also ordered to perform 240 hours unpaid work, pay £1,000 costs and was made subject to an overnight curfew for four months.

Jan, 50, of Lumb Lane, Bradford, had his case adjourned to a later date after he and his solicitor got stuck on the M1 on their way to court.

Sentencing Ahmed and Raja, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told them: “It was highly foreseeable that, in the event of a fire, these premises might have become a death trap.

“The breaches would have been obvious to anyone with even a passing interest in the safety of others.

“Anyone with a modicum of sense would have realised it was an extremely dangerous place.

“There was no meaningful attempt to comply even with the most basic of measures.

“They were simply ignored to maximise profit.”

Judges rule £60,000 fine for this "death-trap" building was spot on

A sweets manufacturer fined £60,000 after a building in Coventry was condemned as a potential death-trap has failed to get the fine reduced.

Numerous breaches of the regulations were uncovered, Mr Justice Spencer told London’s Appeal Court on Tuesday.

Amrisha Parathalingam, for the company, which had no previous convictions, argued the fine was far too harsh and should be cut.

It was likely to a have a “crippling” impact on the business, she told the court.

But Mr Justice Spencer ruled: “We can see no merit whatsoever in the argument that the level of the fine was manifestly excessive.

“We are quite satisfied that there is no merit whatsoever in this proposed appeal against sentence.

“Accordingly, leave to appeal is refused,” concluded the judge, who was sitting with Lord Justice Flaux and Judge David Aubrey QC.