Old Shimla’s taste trail: century-old shops hold their ground amid cafés and mega marts

Thakur Bhrata: a living archive of flavours

Several such shops line Shimla’s narrow lanes, and one of the most prominent is Thakur Bhrata at Lower Bazar. It is run by brothers Vijay Kumar, 72, and Rajinder Kumar, 75. Founded in 1925 by their father Lala Thakur Das along with his younger brother Prithvi Chand, the business was originally named Thakur Brothers. Around 1945–46, the name was subtly Indianised, which Vijay Kumar describes as “a quiet, symbolic act of resistance”. The family traces its roots to Pragpur in Dehra subdivision of Kangra district.

The shop was among the first in Shimla to sell sweet and savoury chutneys and pickles. Rajinder Kumar said common people bought pickles for two or four annas, and some British officers carried them outside Shimla for their families. “Even their generations visit us today,” he said. Certain practices have remained unchanged for a century. Apart from preserving original recipes, the shop has safeguarded its produce in unusual storage vessels: 150-year-old British liquid battery boxes.

“These heavy, transparent containers, now displayed on wooden shelves, store 18–20 varieties of pickles and chutneys, along with nearly a dozen types of murabba. Before electricity reached Shimla in 1912, these boxes, imported from England, held liquid batteries that powered lamps in British homes. When electricity rendered them obsolete, they were discarded as scrap. Our father recognised their potential as preservation chambers, and for nearly a century they have been reused to store achars and murabbas,” Vijay Kumar said.

Another relic preserved in the shop is a reusable accounting slate. Rajinder explained that it was purchased in 1926, a year after the shop opened, and is called takhti, the daybook. Coated with Multani mitti, the slate has recorded a century of transactions, with entries written, wiped clean and recoated, saving paper and costs. He added that the practice was inherited from their grandfather, Kuthiala Bhutomal, a grocer based in Dagshai. The brothers have also preserved a century-old brass vessel used by their grandfather during prayers.

Reflecting on changing times, Vijay Kumar said everything has changed and the new generation seeks exotic flavours. Rajinder said today’s generation is always in a hurry, while their work remains labour-intensive, with their day beginning at 6 am and ending at 8 pm.

Sharma Chat Shop: legacy of taste

Another story of endurance is Sharma Chat Shop, established in 1937 by Ramesh Sharma’s father, when Shimla’s population was barely 35,000. Located in Middle Bazar, it began as a bakery and later transformed into a chaat shop serving kulchas, tikkis and chole bhature. Until the 1950s, faluda and kulfi were also prepared in-house.

Ramesh Sharma begins his day at 5 am, overseeing preparations before opening, and closes by 7 pm. “This shop is like my mother. It sustained my family and helped educate my children,” he said. While he intends to continue the business, generational shifts are visible. “My son wants to renovate the interiors and make the shop more aesthetic. The food will remain the same, but the setting will change,” he said.

He recalled emotional moments that reaffirmed the shop’s legacy. “People from Saudi Arabia who studied at Bishop Cotton School before Independence visited after decades just to come here. Such moments motivate me to carry forward the tradition,” he said.

Frontier Chat Shop: holding on to a fading lineage

Standing over the bustling steps, Frontier Chat Shop represents culinary continuity. Manu Sharma, owner of the shop established in 1933, reflected on its evolution. “Around the time of Independence, seating arrangements were introduced inside the shop. Earlier, people sat on the stairs. There were eight or nine shops selling the same items then, now only two remain,” he said. His grandfather Jagannath Sharma migrated from Kangra district in the 1930s and set up the shop near Mall Road.

“Shimla has changed, and so has the shop. We work from dusk to dawn to preserve the original taste. But Chinese and Italian food and café culture have taken over the market,” he said. The shop also experimented with food delivery platforms, but low order volumes and operational challenges made survival harder. “Preserving the shop’s original character is an arduous task. I am holding on to this legacy, but the fourth generation will not continue. Neither the work nor Shimla is what it used to be,” he said.

Historian Raaja Bhasin, author of Simla, the Summer Capital of British India, said calling them British-era shops is not entirely accurate. “These are the entities that give the town its identity. It has had owners before the present owners and it will have owners after the present owners. These establishments are not trapped in time,” he said. He added that Shimla is a designated heritage zone and the Himachal Pradesh High Court is doing its bit to preserve it. “Every old establishment will change with time. What is important is that the overall historical precinct requires preservation,” he said.

Prachi Chauhan is an intern with The Indian Express.