18-05-2025
Queues as Mr Parmo opens: 'Expect more Bradford brands to pick Blackburn'
People queued around the block in Blackburn for an opening day offer at the town's latest fast food offering, Mr Parmo.
The new eat-in takeaway launched in Plane Street on Saturday with people queuing for several hours to get their hands on £1 parmesan, also known as parmos.
The takeaway has a branch on Bradford's Great Horton Road and another in Rochdale.
Blackburn is the third to open in the North of England, taking up a spot close to Kebabish.
In the past year, a number of new burger and fast food brands have opened in the area, including Shake Bee and Love Donner.
Mr Parmo offers a range of parmesan; the typical parmo is thin, breaded fried chicken covered in cheese.
It also sells burgers, such as the Kashmiri parmesan burger and a variety of desserts.
A queue ran all the way down Plane Street and then around the corner into Whalley New Road well ahead of the opening time of 4pm.
Some young Mr Parmo fans had turned up at 1pm to be at the front of the queue for the one-day offer.
The queue on Plane Street ran on to the junction with Whalley New Road (Image: Nq)
The manager at the Blackburn site, which has 50 seats, is Haseeb Malik.
He said: 'All around Blackburn there is no specific spot that does parmesans. So it is something new and different.
'It is a great response by the people of Blackburn to see a queue like this. We were expecting it though, it is busy wherever we open.
'The site itself has been renovated and rebranded, and it took about five or six months to complete.
'We are delighted with the result. And it has also brought this part of the town to life.'
The site has been revamped both internally and externally
Heseeb said more and more established halal Bradford brands were looking at Blackburn, which he said now had a 'booming' fast food and restaurant trade.
He added: 'We have seen the likes of Akbar's and MyLahore in recent years.
'Blackburn is the new hotspot. Everywhere you go, there are new shops opening.'
Tahir Rashid, a family friend, had attended the opening to help the owners.
He said: 'We help out as much as we can for all the openings.
'Hopefully the people of Blackburn will make us feel welcome.
'Today has been phenomenal with the turnout. We want people to give their honest verdict and how our parmesans are.
'We are confident people will like them as much as other towns and cities have.'
