Restaurant owner in Stansted hopes the community will support him, in supporting Harlow’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Dunmow Broadcast: Karim Ullah, the owner of Brohmon, in Stansted. Photo: BrohmonKarim Ullah, the owner of Brohmon, in Stansted. Photo: Brohmon (Image: Karim Ullah, the owner of Brohmon)

A restaurant owner in Stansted is raising funds for a hospital to thank them for their work.

Ten years ago, Karim Ullah was rushed to hospital twice after becoming extremely ill and he spent many weeks there, recovering from major surgery.

One of those occasions was his daughter’s first day at Newport’s Joyce Frankland Academy, when she was 12.

“It was her first day. I was rushed to hospital. She had never been on a train on her own. It was an absolutely chaotic and difficult time.”

Mr Ullah said he would be “forever grateful” to the hospital.

“I asked my consultant would I be able to live a normal life again. She said we are doing our very best. Here I am, living the most normal life anyone can live.”

Mr Ullah said he has raised money for the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow before, but not on this scale, and he hopes the community will support them.

His restaurant called Brohmon, which means ‘journey’ in Bengali, specialises in rustic Bengali cuisine and the short menu is food they eat themselves.

Brohmon on Chapel Hill opened in March, then lockdown was enforced just two weeks later.

“It was touch and go if we would survive or not,” he said.

“We had just opened.”

He added: “We started doing deliveries. We saw things starting to pick up. That’s how we survived. We just had to do anything we could and be as creative as we can to survive a really tough period.”

Brohmon is taking part in National Rice Week from September 14 to 20 and they will donate all profits after costs during that time to the hospital.

Funds will go to the gastroenterology fund, to help purchase special equipment and help provide things that make life easier for patients.

“My family are from Bengal, where people eat rice with almost everything because they love it so much.

“Rice is a key part of many dishes, including bread and desserts. We’ll have a range of rice-related items for people to try - especially the most popular Bengali combination of rice and fish.”

Ogechi Emeadi, PAHT’s director of people, organisational development and communications, said they were very grateful for the support.