Derbyshire curry house owner thinks business has been cursed by three headed snake statue

A Derbyshire curry house owner hit by a catalogue of disasters has blamed it on a 'cursed' three-headed SNAKE hidden at the restaurant - and claims business is on the up now he's binned the creepy statue.
Manohar Kunwar at Matlock GurkhaManohar Kunwar at Matlock Gurkha
Manohar Kunwar at Matlock Gurkha

Manohar Kunwar, 45, opened a Nepalese restaurant in a quaint Peak District village in 2016 and business was booming, with them raking in thousands of pounds a week.

But he claims after three months he was suddenly plagued with problems - including power cuts, gas problems, flickering lights, dwindling customers and bad reviews.

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The downturn happened just days after he found a bizarre ornamental real chicken foot covered in silver metal and orange gem stones in a box outside the restaurant.

Manohar and his business partner opened the restaurant in 2016, but business took a downward turn after he found two strange itemsManohar and his business partner opened the restaurant in 2016, but business took a downward turn after he found two strange items
Manohar and his business partner opened the restaurant in 2016, but business took a downward turn after he found two strange items

Manohar stashed it under the counter - and didn't think anything more of it while he focused on trying to get the Matlock Gurkha, in Tansley, back on track.

It wasn't until he discovered a bizarre three-headed snake statue stashed in the eatery's garden last month he started to wonder if he had been cursed.

The spooked boss destroyed the chicken foot and snake - and claims business immediately picked up.

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He's now in talks with a priest to "deactivate" the spooky stash and speculates he was cursed by a rival business.

After getting rid of the items, he says business improved almost immediatelyAfter getting rid of the items, he says business improved almost immediately
After getting rid of the items, he says business improved almost immediately

He said: "When we started it was very well.

"We were making a thousand pounds a day. In the weekends it was very busy and we couldn't cope with all the customers.

"But things changed when we found the chicken foot. We had a problem with the gas, a problem with the hot water.

"Because of the water we had to close for nine days to fix it and that badly affected business.

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"We started losing customers because we had so many problems. We still had some customers but not as many as we needed.

"That was about the time when things started to go wrong and from the next week it was dead, even on Friday and Saturday - it wasn't normal.

"After we found the snake we started to think that maybe there was some witchcraft done to us.

"After putting it outside the business has started to improve, it is better than last week.

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"We can't say who has done it, we suspect it could have been a rival to our business but we can't say - we can't blame anyone.

"I'm not 100 per cent a believer, but maybe it could be - my business partner is talking to a priest who could deactivate it."

Manohar opened the restaurant inside a closed down pub in August 2016, and for the first few months his business went well.

At the end of November, Manohar found two unusual boxes inside the restaurant.

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One contained a clock, and the other had a birds foot inside - and Manohar put the two boxes under the till in case their rightful owner should return.

He continued: "We found the clock in front of the counter and I thought someone had left it so I kept it, thinking the customer would come and claim it, but no one did.

"The clock was in box, and there was a second box that contained a birds foot. I kept that too."

Manohar and business partner Nitess Karki, 38, carried on in the hope that things would get better - forgetting about the creepy 'lost property'.

But some weekends they would take in as little as £70.

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Then, on Friday, August 24, Nitess made a shocking discovery.

Manohar continued: "My business partner went to clean the restaurant on the outside and he found a three headed snake hidden in the bushes.

"Then after that he brought it inside and showed it to me, he said he found it wrapped in string, so I took it and put it outside, behind the building in the car park.

"They are things I have never seen and with the foot decorated like that it seems suspicious.

"Things improved almost immediately. It's very suspicious."

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The Matlock Gurkha is rated as 'Excellent' on Tripadvisor with 4.5 stars - but a handful of terrible ratings.

One is titled 'Avoid at all costs!', another 'Never again', and a third is simply titled 'Disappointed'.