A year after a suspected arson attack, Malik Ahmed has reopened his eponymous Cookham restaurant and already won an award. On a December morning in 2016, the restaurant was being gutted by a fire and one member of his staff had to be taken to hospital.
Police opened an investigation into the blaze, suspecting it to be arson with intent to endanger life, and Malik was left picking up the pieces from a fire that caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. He believed petrol had been poured through the letterbox. A year on, though, the interior has been repaired and the customers have returned. Malik is now all smiles after he worked with his family and the staff, turning what could have been an annus horribilis into a triumph.
The Cookham branch – one of three Maliks restaurants, alongside those in Gerrards Cross and Marlow – won a prestigious title at the British Curry Awards last month. It was a reward he would have struggled to foresee as he took in what happened early on Tuesday, December 6, 2016.
Speaking to the Maidenhead Advertiser on Tuesday Mr Ahmed said: “I was absolutely gutted. Maliks (in Cookham) was my first restaurant. I started my businesses when I was quite young. I thought this restaurant would be totally destroyed. Sometimes you see things happen in your life and you just don’t believe it.”
It took firefighters four hours to put out the blaze. Malik estimated £400,000 of damage had been done to the building and a further £27,000 of wine and spirits had been destroyed.
Last June, Maliks reopened with a soft launch before providing its full menu again in August. All the hard work paid off after the Cookham branch scooped the ‘Best in the South-east’ accolade at the British Curry Awards on November 29, in London.
Police said last year they were keeping an ‘open mind’ about the motive.
