The three Sheffield restaurants in the running for the British Kebab Awards

It's one of the most illustrious kebab competitions going and, this year, three Sheffield restaurants have been nominated in the British Kebab Awards.
British Kebab AwardsBritish Kebab Awards
British Kebab Awards

Kebab businesses in every corner of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are battling for gongs in 16 categories.

These range from Best Kebab Van to Best Newcomer and Chef of the Year ahead of the sixth annual awards ceremony on Monday, March 12, in central London.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And this year, THREE Sheffield restaurants will be hoping to take home trophies after being named as finalists.

Kosta's Greek Deli on Shoreham Street and Charleys Kebabs & Grill have been nominated for Best Regional Takeaway while Lokanta on Glossop Road has been nominated for Best Fine Dining Restaurant.

Members of the public nominated 5,012 of their favourite kebab shops. These were whittled down to a shortlist of 153 based on the number of public votes received with bonus points for nominations from MPs and councillors.

Hygiene, online satisfaction ratings and the number of #BritishKebabAwards tweets of support that a contender got were also taken into account.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The winners of the sixth annual awards will be announced after a final round of judging by the British Kebab Awards judges.

#BritishKebabAwards founder Ibrahim Dogus said: “Kebab is fast becoming the nation’s favourite food so it is only right that the superheroes behind this phenomenon are recognised.

“This, the sixth year of the competition, is the toughest. Every British Kebab Award finalist should be congratulated for making it through in our most hotly contested year yet.

“Many MPs and councillors got behind kebab shops and restaurants in their constituencies by nominating them. I look forward to seeing some new faces coming through and claiming a seat at the industry’s top table.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The annual event is the only one to recognise the contribution made by the kebab industry to the British economy - worth more than £2.8billion a year, supporting around 200,000 jobs across restaurants, suppliers and the food industry.

Every day, more than 1.3m kebabs are sold across Britain. The UK’s first kebab shop, Istanbul Restaurant in Soho, opened during the Second World War and pictures of it feature in the Imperial War Museum.

However it was not until 1966 that the famous doner kebab - cooked on a vertical spit - first appeared with the opening of the Hodja Nasreddin Kebab House by Çetin Bukey and Kojay Hüsey in in North London’s Newington Green.

There are now over 20,000 kebab outlets in the UK selling around 2,500 tonnes of lamb and chicken doner a week.