From a back street corner shop, a small religious community flourished – largely due to a lack of halal meat in the county.

When Hakim Hussain arrived in Medway from his homeland of Pakistan in the 1950s he was forced to make at least a 50-mile round trip to buy the specially-prepared animals and poultry, an essential part of the Islamic faith.

By and large, he would go without, rather than disobey the strict rules of his religion.

Occasionally, he would persuade a farmer at Capstone to allow him to have one of his chickens to slaughter.

When his family moved over he was living in a terraced house in Salisbury Road, Luton, and decided to convert the downstairs into a halal butchers.

Muslims from as far away as Canterbury and Ashford turned up at the doorstep to stock up on produce at Asia Continental, where he also sold spices and herbs, popular with the expanding Asian neighbourhood.

His son Altaf, who came here in 1969, started to help his father when he was a teenager and by the time he was 20 he was running the shop.

Altaf had wanted to be a mechanic but he sacrificed a college placement and a social life with his friends to working long hours building up the family firm.

Within a year he had bought a larger van and was going to the wholesalers in London and delivering to nearby restaurants.

He said: "My father was not a businessman. He liked to be serving the community but was not making much money.

"People took advantage of him and he would let them off without paying."

Hakim was passionate about his religion and played a key role in the fundraising to build a mosque in Canterbury Street, Gillingham.

Altaf said: "Up until then there was no mosque. We used to rent out a room near Chatham railway station for Friday prayers.

"My father was very well respected."

Altaf met his wife Azra through an arranged marriage, the couple seeing each other for the first time at Heathrow Airport when she arrived from Pakistan.

They went on to have four children and, like father like son, his eldest Muzamel also went into the business.

At the time they were living in cramped conditions in the flat above the shop and, with the business booming, they needed to move to a bigger place.

Altaf opened Altaf Halal Meat in Luton Road in 1999 where he remained with Muzamel at his side until last week when at the age of 61 he retired.

The couple moved to a bungalow in King George Road, Walderslade, in 2005 and they have since expanded it into a deluxe six-bedroom home.

His son and daughter-in-law Fhanaz live next door with their children.

At last, it's time for Altaf and Azra, who worked behind the counter in between bringing up the family, to relax.

He said: "I plan to go on holidays, to America and Dubai where my daughter now lives and back home to Kasmir where he has visited only a few times after coming here as a child.

Looking back, he recognises how much his father did to bring together the Muslim community in Medway and beyond.

Nowadays there are numerous shops and even supermarkets selling halal meat.

But he said the older generation still come in for a chat, to buy a bunch of coriander and stay for 20 minutes.

And, despite hanging up his butcher's apron, he has returned to his old shop which is selling similar products several times to give the new owner "moral support".