Description:Text: Rajinder Kumar Dudrah
The contemporary Soho Road is testimony to the developing presence of the different non-white social groups who have settled in post-1945 Handsworth and have made it their home. The Soho Road and its surrounding streets accommodate different places of worship (gurdwaras, mosques, mandirs, bhawans, and Black and South Asian churches), food and clothes shops, restaurants, arts and crafts outlets, barber shops, audio and video stores, travel agencies, overseas banks, solicitors, insurers, jewellers, community organisations and self-help groups.
The Soho Road is also home to a range of daily popular cultural activity creating distinct urban sounds, styles, and aromas. Varied music genres vie for your attention from the Asian music and video stores. Different people move out and about buying their general groceries, ranging from breakfast cereals to fresh spices and vegetables from around the world. The shopping areas are especially busy on the weekends, with people off from work and with visitors from neighbouring towns. The latest Asian dress materials and jewellery are on display in the windows. Aromas of Caribbean bakers and Asian sweet shops are brought to the senses. People stop to greet each other in a number of ways – Kiddha, Whagwaan, Sat Sri Akal, Asailaam Wale Ghum, Hello – and to catch up on local gossip, news from ‘back home’, and to talk about the unpredictability of the British weather.