MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM — Shree Krishna Vada Pav (SKVP), a Birmingham-headquartered Indian street-food chain, has opened its first outlet in the North of England, bringing Mumbai's iconic vada pav and a menu of vegetarian street-food staples to Manchester Arndale shopping centre. The Consulate General of India in Manchester formally inaugurated the restaurant on August 1, framing the opening as part of deepening cultural and economic ties between India and the city.
"The renowned street food brand of India comes to the heart of Manchester, further deepening the cultural ties between the two countries," the Consulate General said in a statement marking the launch, describing the venture by founders Sujay Sohani, Subodh Joshi and Mahesh Raikar as a "living, delightful example of growing India-Manchester ties." The new outlet, located at R1, Halle Place inside Manchester Arndale, marks SKVP's first restaurant in North West England and follows the company's signing of a 15-year lease for the roughly 2,105-square-foot unit in late 2025.
From a Small Outlet to a Fast-Growing UK Chain
SKVP was founded in 2010 by Sujay Sohani and Subodh Joshi, later joined by Mahesh Raikar, all three hospitality professionals originally from Mumbai who left careers in the UK's hotel industry to bring authentic Indian street food to British consumers. What began as a single outlet serving vada pav — Mumbai's beloved deep-fried potato-fritter sandwich — and cutting chai has grown, over fifteen years, into one of the UK's fastest-growing Indian vegetarian quick-service restaurant chains, with more than 20 outlets now operating across England.
Backed by Haldiram's, Aiming for 100 Outlets by 2030
The Manchester opening comes on the back of an investment from Haldiram's, the Indian snack and sweets giant, which SKVP has said will help accelerate its expansion across the UK. Headquartered in Birmingham, the chain specializes in authentic Mumbai street food — vada pav, pav bhaji, misal, bhel puri, dabeli, wraps, curries and South Indian specialties — and has outlined an ambitious growth target of 100 locations across the country by 2030, a roughly fivefold increase from its current footprint.
That growth trajectory places SKVP within a broader wave of Indian-founded food and beverage brands expanding across the UK market, capitalizing on both a large, established South Asian diaspora population and a broader mainstream British appetite for Indian street food that has grown well beyond the traditional curry-house format that long defined Indian dining in Britain.
A Small Data Point in a Larger UK-India Business Story
SKVP's Manchester expansion lands amid a broader surge in Indian business activity across the United Kingdom. According to the latest "India Meets Britain Tracker," published by Grant Thornton UK in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry and India Global Forum, the number of Indian-owned companies operating in the UK rose nearly 60% year-on-year in 2026, reaching 1,912 businesses with a combined turnover of £105.77 billion — up from £72.14 billion the previous year. The report attributed part of that surge to the UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, signed in July 2025, which is expected to reduce tariffs and simplify customs processes between the two countries.
While SKVP itself is a hospitality business rather than a beneficiary of trade-agreement tariff provisions, its expansion reflects the same underlying dynamic driving that broader investment wave: growing confidence among UK-based Indian entrepreneurs to scale consumer-facing businesses beyond their original regional footholds, backed increasingly by capital from established Indian corporate players like Haldiram's looking to build international consumer brands through local partners.
Why It Matters
For Manchester's Indian and broader South Asian community, SKVP's arrival adds another authentic, diaspora-founded dining option to a city whose food scene has steadily diversified over the past decade. For SKVP itself, the Manchester Arndale location — a 15-year lease in a major shopping centre — signals a shift from opportunistic single-site openings toward a more institutional, franchise-style growth strategy backed by serious outside capital. And for UK-India economic ties more broadly, it is one small but tangible data point within a much larger current: a fast-growing base of Indian-owned or Indian-founded businesses putting down deeper, longer-term roots across British cities beyond London.
• Shree Krishna Vada Pav opened its first North West England outlet at Manchester Arndale on August 1, 2026.
• Founded in 2010 by three former hospitality professionals from Mumbai, SKVP now operates 20+ UK outlets.
• The chain is backed by an investment from Indian snack maker Haldiram's and targets 100 UK locations by 2030.
• The opening was inaugurated by the Consulate General of India in Manchester.
• It comes amid a nearly 60% year-on-year surge in Indian-owned companies operating in the UK, per Grant Thornton's 2026 India Meets Britain Tracker.
