Mango Men
Get ready to meet the men behind the juicy mangos sold in Bradford.
Published: June 19, 2025
Author: Tim Smith
Meet The People of Bradford in our digital series, created in collaboration with renowned documentary photographer Tim Smith.
Tim Smith’s photographs and creative work capture the social and cultural experiences of his subjects. In this unique series, we’re bringing together the lives and stories of real Bradford people with Tim’s captivating images.
These are the men that sell the mangos in Bradford – in their own words.
Zummard Hussain
Business owner
This is Jack’s Catering Supplies, which is my business, off Lawkholme Lane in Keighley.
We used to supply to restaurants, and recently we decided to open to the public, and it’s gone beserk! We sell mostly Asian stuff, but we cater for English as well as Asian people, in fact all sorts of communities. Anybody.
Mangos! Well, you can’t beat Pakistani mangos. They’re the best in the world to be honest, and we sell a lot of mangos, we do. May be a hundred to a hundred and fifty boxes in a good day. The season starts in June and runs up to the end of August. They come from Pakistan by air and we get them mainly from Bradford’s wholesale market, St James Market.
We sell four or five different varieties. Mainly it’s Chaunsa and Sindhri, they’re the most popular ones, but we also have Bangladeshi Rupali and a few other types. You can eat them all sorts of ways, but the Chaunsa and Sindhri, you cut it with a knife and eat it. It’s a gift!
Rosie
A customer in Shipley
I discovered honey mangos when I moved to Bradford in the early ‘90s. I’d eaten mangos before, those solid ones you get from supermarkets, but they were expensive and nasty both at the same time. The thing about Bradford mangos is that they’re honey mangos, mainly from Pakistan, and they are just the most delicious things imaginable.
Chaunsa and Sindhri are my particular favourites. At first I started buying them singly, because they’re quite expensive, but then I started buying them by the box. After that, my husband and I liked them so much that every mango season we’d have a thing that we called the ‘Mango Fridge Challenge’. We’d attempt to fill the front of our fridge with the tinselly stickers which each mango has on it – quite often we’d succeed as well. We were very dedicated eaters of mangos. In fact I still am!
I’m very experienced now at checking out a box of mangos – deciding how ripe they are, whether they’re just ready or just a bit too far gone. I still manage to eat lots and lots each summer.
You can’t really describe the taste of a mango, but you can describe how the flesh is bright orange and how juicy they are, and I’d say their flavour is just the best taste in the world.
