A British Asian supermarket has gone viral after footage appeared to show separate queues for men and women during a recent promotional sale.
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footage → go → sale
A video filmed at Masala Bazaar in Romford showed women, many of them wearing traditional Muslim dress, waiting together with children on one side of the store to receive cooking oil.
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many → film → oil
Footage from the east London supermarket then pans across to reveal a separate queue of men on the other side of a long row of chest freezers, waiting for the same product.
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Footage → pan → product
Masala Bazaar, which specialises in halal meat and South Asian produce and ingredients, operates stores across the UK.
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which → specialise → UK
The video was filmed as the retailer celebrated the third anniversary of its east London branch opening last month.
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retailer → film → branch
On August 28, separate queues of men and women formed as shoppers were handed bottles of vegetable oil.
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shoppers → form → oil
In the following days, queues formed again, also largely divided by gender, as staff distributed what appeared to be joints of meat and frozen fish.
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what → follow → meat
The store's manager told the Daily Mail today: 'We told customers they needed to line up, but we can't control them.
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we → tell → them
People automatically started queuing with the men on one side and the women on the other.
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People → start → other
A queue of women line up during a sale at an east London supermarket
Across the aisle, separated by chest freezers, another line formed, this time of men
Two days later, queues based on gender formed again for a promotion on fish
Romford was once one of London's best-known white working-class areas, but in recent decades it has undergone profound demographic and cultural change.
The so-called 'white flight' to neighbouring Essex has seen the town's white population fall from 95.2 per cent in 2001 to 75.3 per cent today.
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population → line → cent
Over the same period, the proportion of residents identifying as Asian has risen from 2.1 per cent to 10.7 per cent.
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proportion → identify → cent
Masala Bazaar's head office has been approached for comment on whether customers were queuing by gender.
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customers → approach → gender
However, a worker wrote on social media that customers had not been instructed to stand apart and that there was no policy or religious rule requiring segregated queues.
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customers → write → queues
He said the arrangement was a response to 'severe congestion' and a 'large turnout of customers' attracted by the anniversary offers, according to Al Jazeera.
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arrangement → say → Jazeera
Addressing customers on social media, he wrote: 'Peace be upon you.
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Peace → address → you
On behalf of the store, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone.
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I → like → everyone
We would like to apologise for any mistakes or shortcomings that occurred during the organisation of this event.
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that → like → event
We thank you all for your patience.'
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We → thank → patience
Masala Bazaar is owned by Euro Foods Group, founded by Bangladeshi-born British entrepreneur Shelim Hussain, whose fortune is estimated at £105million.
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fortune → own → 105million
As well as its Romford branch, the company operates supermarkets in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea and Newport.
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company → operate → Birmingham
Zayuber, the Romford store manager, insisted the two lines were not intentional.
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lines → insist → ?
He said: 'It was so overcrowded in here for the third anniversary.
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It → say → anniversary
At events like this, we have a "power hour" where we give out free gifts, so everyone wants them.
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everyone → have → them
It was chaos and people were trying to take more than they should.
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they → try → more
We told customers they needed to line up, but we can't control them.
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we → tell → them
People automatically started queuing with the men on one side and the women on the other.
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People → start → other
Staff were handing out cooking oil to customers as Masala Bazaar celebrated its third birthday
Another store worker said the videos were filmed during celebrations marking the store's third anniversary, held between August 26 and 31.
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videos → hand → August
He said: 'We were giving away oil, fish, quiche, grapes and biscuits.
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We → say → oil
There were simply too many people gathering around, so we had to create two queues to hand out the food more efficiently.
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we → be → food
'The men stood with the men and the women with the women.
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men → stand → women
We didn't tell anyone where to stand.
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We → tell → anyone
They formed the queues themselves.'
One woman, who has lived in Romford all her life and works at a local gym, said: 'The size of the queues would put me off going there anyway.
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size → form → me
I've never seen anything like that in another shop.
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I → see → shop
You don't see many English people about now, whereas a few years ago it would have been mostly English people.
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it → see → people
It's completely changed.
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It → change → ?
'I think it bothers some people more than it bothers me.
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it → think → me
I can understand why some aren't happy with it.
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some → understand → it
It can feel a bit intimidating at times, but I don't really mind.
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I → feel → times
Social media users who shared the footage expressed concern about the apparent separation of customers.
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who → share → customers
One wrote: 'Nobody passed a law saying England would adopt sex-segregated queues.'
Another said: 'I can't quite believe my eyes. This is the UK in 2026.
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This → write → 2026
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
