Byline: SANJEETA BAINS News Reporter sanjeeta.bains@reachplc.com

"THIRTY years ago, most racist jibes were about curry - but now curry is helping unify our communities," says Bera Mahli.

Bera is the landlord of The Red Cow Pub and Grill in Smethwick, a town where, decades ago, American civil rights activist Malcolm X witnessed first hand segregation in bars and pubs.

Back then the old British boozer would not be such a welcoming place for the Black and Asian community. But fast forward 50 years and things have changed.

Today some may have the rough boozer exterior - and interior - as well as old men cradling their pints at the bar, but the exotic smells wafting from the kitchen tells me something is very different.

I'm at The Red Cow to talk to Bera about the popularity of Desi pubs in the Midlands - old British pubs which are serving up Punjabi 'Desi' grub.

"I used to work in a hotel on Hagley Road," he tells me. "I remember saying to one of the managers, 'why not hire out your function rooms to Asians for weddings?' "He told me they did once and they couldn't...