"It was just a remarkable legacy"
Tributes have been paid to Suresh “Suki” Patel, who helped shape the Black Country’s Desi pub culture and brought generations of families together.
Patel ran The Vine in West Bromwich.
His family announced his passing on October 16, following a short illness.
The Vine became renowned for its Indian food, including marinated chicken wings, curries, naan bread and signature chutney. Its mixed grill also became a firm favourite, helping establish the venue as a landmark in the local dining scene.
Jag Nijjer, who spoke about Patel’s influence, said:
“He didn’t just feed the community; he helped bring people together. Restaurants come and go, but this was an institution.
“It was just a remarkable legacy, and one that will live on in hearts, minds, and taste buds.”
The pub also held personal significance for Nijjer, who recalled visiting with four generations of his family and sharing meals and conversations across the generations.
He added: “I’d be there with my grandad [and] my dad. It was three generations, and then my nephew has been too, so there [would] have been four generations sitting in The Vine, sharing food and conversation.”
David Jesudason, author of Desi Pubs: A Guide to British-Indian Pubs, Food and Culture, also paid tribute to Patel after meeting him while visiting Desi landlords across the country.
Patel was one of the longest-serving landlords in the area, having owned The Vine since 1978. Jesudason highlighted his role in making Indian food a familiar part of the British pub experience.
“One of the best things he did was popularise Indian food in pubs.
“Desi pubs first started out as a safe space for Indian people to drink when they were trying to find a place that was going to serve them and not segregate them under the colour bar,” he said.
The colour bar involved excluding non-white people from premises, refusing them service or restricting them to designated drinking areas.
Desi pubs subsequently developed their own identity within British pub culture, with the term commonly referring to venues run by people of Indian origin that serve food alongside beer.
Patel’s son, Bharat Patel, said he wanted to keep his father’s legacy alive:
“He told us, ‘You guys look after The Vine’; this was his baby so we will honour that and look after it for him.”
“As little kids we used to live upstairs… it was hectic but we loved it, we were surrounded by so many lovely people who welcomed us into the community.
“Dad didn’t want to segregate anybody, it was a mixture of all types of people and I remember going downstairs and there would be the milkman in one corner, business people, office people, it was just a great vibe with local people as well.”
West Bromwich MP Sarah Coombes described Patel as a “local legend” and said:
“The Vine is an absolute landmark venue for us all locally and the Desi pub is now one of the Black Country’s most-loved institutions.
“I want to pay tribute to the impact he’s had on West Brom, and for the legacy he has left.”
Coombes also recalled seeing Patel reading his daily newspaper at the pub and said she was glad to have heard his stories about its early days.
Nijjer added: “The Vine wasn’t simply somewhere you went to eat, it was somewhere [to] create memories with friends and loved ones.”
