IT has some way to go before it becomes a northern curry capital.

But the Holme Valley appears to be turning into something of an Indian food epicentre.

When the Pink Elephant opened at the Foresters Arms, Honley, in October, it brought the number of Indian restaurants in the valley up to at least eight.

And if you count Meltham as part of Holme Valley there are 10.

When Balooshai returns to Honley after 11 years away, there’ll be 11.

Balooshai, which has a restaurant on Viaduct Street, in Huddersfield town centre, is opening another restaurant at the former Coach and Horses Steakhouse in Honley’s Eastgate.

Eleven Indian restaurants may not sound like many when compared to London’s Brick Lane or Manchester’s Curry Mile.

But in a semi-rural area with a relatively small population it’s a large number.

By comparison the more rural parts of neighbouring Colne Valley have just two Indian restaurants – or five if you include the three in Milnsbridge.

But Hamid Islam, who owns Balooshai, thinks more Indian eateries are on their way to both valleys.

Hamid, who opened Honley’s first Indian restaurant, at the Silk Mill in 1996, believes restaurateurs are attracted by the cheaper rents of rural areas.

He said: “With so many pubs closing it’s ideal to turn them into restaurants and villages are the place to be.

“The rent is cheap, the rates are cheap and you get a much bigger building for the price.

“There’ll definitely be more in Holme and Colne valleys in the next five years.”

“Some 70% of our customers at our restaurant on Viaduct Street come from the Holme Valley. I thought if we were just in town our Holme Valley customers would fade away.

“Young people are getting used to the heat and they can handle the spice.”

The Flouch Balti House, on Dunford Road, opposite the long-established Bengal Spice, opened six months ago.

Co-owner Taz Ahmed says customers from Holme Valley were crossing the hills to dine at their original restaurant in Hazlehead, near Penistone. Opening another eatery nearer to home was an obvious move.

Mr Ahmed said: “Business hasn’t been bad in Holmfirth. We’re surviving which is good in these times.

“We don’t think Indian food is becoming popular. It’s already popular.

“We thought we would take the opportunity and see what happens.”

Turmoil in the pub trade is leading landlords to think of innovative ways to keep their businesses afloat.

And when Jay Rahman, owner of the Pink Elephant, came knocking at the door of the Foresters Arms, the partnership was too good to turn down.

Landlady Ruth Beattie said: “It’s the way forward for pubs because they’re all going down at the moment.

“Since the restaurant opened it’s been really busy.”

Mr Rahman, from Lockwood, added: “National surveys say curry is number one. If you go for a night out, you go for a curry. It’s a tradition.

“In Honley there was a lot of potential but no restaurant so when the Foresters asked us to come over we thought we’d give it a shot and it’s worked out nicely.”

And is the current concentration of curry houses the start of something bigger?

Mr Rahman added: “We reckon there’s room for more; well...one more maybe!”

Curry facts

The word ‘curry’ comes from the Tamil word ‘kari’ meaning ‘sauce’.

London’s first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House, was opened in 1810.

What we Brits call ‘Indian food’ is a hybrid of Pakistani, Bengali and Indian cuisine, tailored for the British market. Anyone expecting to eat a jalfrezi or tikka masala in India will have to search extensively to find one.

‘Indian’ restaurants began appearing in the UK during the 1970s as a result of immigration from Bangladesh (then part of Pakistan) to Britain.

The classic scorcher vindaloo originates in Portugal. The dish, initially called ‘carne de vinha d’alhos’ (meaning ‘meat of wine and garlic’) was brought into the southern Indian colony of Goa by Portuguese settlers.

There are estimated to be around 9,000 Indian restaurants in the UK.

Two million Brits eat in Indian restaurants each week.