Bundobust: Birmingham's Indian street food restaurant set to close a year after opening

The Bundobust restaurant in Birmingham city centre is set to close just a year after opening its doors in the city.

The Indian street food & craft beer specialists opened Bundobust Birmingham on Bennetts Hill on June 2, 2023. A statement on the company’s social media pages said “the consistent trade needed to stay open {in Birmingham} just hasn’t been there for us.”

The Bundobust restaurants in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool will be unaffected by the news, with the company saying that at least a third of the Birmingham staff will be relocating to the other Bundobust venues up north.

The Birmingham venue was the fifth UK venue for the vegetarian and vegan Gujarati street food company. It has proved popular in other cities, with esteemed food critic Jay Rayner having called the venues: “uncompromising and self-confident and, above all else, clever.”

‘Bundo’, as it’s also known, first opened in Leeds and has expanded to various locations in Northern England - as well as Manchester, there’s one in Liverpool.

They serve dishes including Okra Fries (dusted in black salt and mango powder), Gobi Manchurian (Indo-Chinese vegetable pakoras tossed in umami-hot sauce), as well as creative takes on classics including Vada Pav, Rajma, Tarka Dhal, Pav Bhaji, Chaat and more.

Statement from Bundobust Birmingham

A statement from the company, read: “This is an announcement we’ve been dreading, but after a lot of painful deliberation we’ve made the decision to close Bundobust Birmingham as of this Sunday (14th July).”

“Birmingham was the furthest from home we’ve ever ventured, but in doing reccies to places like Digbeth, Moseley, Jewellery Quarter, and King’s Heath we recognised parallels in the vibe, community, and spirit of pockets of the cities we already operate in which made Birmingham feel like a home away from home.

“Unfortunately, despite support and enthusiasm from a great community, the consistent trade needed to stay open just hasn’t been there for us in our little part of the city centre.

“This isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly - it’s gutting, humbling, and there will be lessons to take from it in due course, but first and foremost our priority is to provide support to the team in Birmingham (we’re chuffed to be keeping at least a third of them on and relocating them to other Bundos!) as well as reassuring the teams in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool that their jobs are safe and unaffected.”