Nasar Jarad Al-Fadhli

OWNERS of a pomegranate juice shop in Kilburn have told how they have had more customers than ever – since a GB News presenter accused juice bars in the area of being tax-dodging money laundering operations.

Nasar Jarad Al-Fadhli and his brother, Jaffer, opened Fresh Pom in Kilburn High Road three months ago, spurred on by the overnight success of their first shop in Birmingham.

Of the presenter’s comments, Mr Al-Fadhli said: “He can come to my shop, he can see everything I do legally here – the taxes, the bills, everything.”

Their business was not mentioned by name by commentator Patrick Christys on his podcast The Echo Uncensored, but he did question how a shop in the area with a “wall of pomegranates” could afford business rates and suggested there must be a tax “scam” going on.

Speaking on the podcast Mr Christys said: “Drive down Kilburn High Road and you just look at the different shops that are on offer there. Why are they not getting knocks on the door from HMRC and the Inland Revenue?

“There’s a shop in the London area, right, that only sells pomegranates. That’s all it is. You go into the shop and there’s just a wall of pomegranates behind you, and they just sell pomegranate juice, and that is a large premises in London, supposedly paying London business rates.”

A wall of pomegranates at Fresh Pom

People have since been coming into Fresh Pom – a shop on Kilburn High Road only selling pomegranate – asking about the ­podcast and offering support.

The shop sells different sized cups of juice at £5 and £6 and litre bottles at £10 – prices similar to the identikit corporate chains who would not be questioned about how they afford high street premises.

Mr Al-Fadhli told the New Journal that he felt Mr Christys was unfairly alluding to his business. “I don’t know what this guy was thinking,” he said.

“I feel sorry for him, not for me. Nobody cares about what he says – it’s completely not the truth.”

He added that trade had gone up since the podcast was released with social media content creators arriving at Fresh Pom to make films poking fun at the presenter’s claims and understanding of how businesses work.

“I have a lot of customers who come to me because of his video,”  Mr Al-Fadhli said.

“They say, ‘without him we would not know where you are’. So we just thank him very much, he’s an amazing guy.”

A bottle of pomegranate juice can cost up to £10

Mr Christys had said during his podcast: “If you ever want to go and look at what a scam looks like, go to places like that. How are these people paying their bills? How are they doing it all? These are massive, massive money-laundering operations.”

It was Mr Al-Fadhli’s brother Jaffer who came up with the idea for Fresh Pom.

An experienced bar tender and barista artist who can “even put your face on a coffee”, Jaffer was studying business and management in Birmingham when he decided to open a pomegranate juice shop.

“In Muslim culture they say the pomegranate is the fruit of heaven, and nobody is selling pomegranate juice in this country – just orange juice, cranberry juice, maybe pineapple juice. So he thought, ‘let’s do something different’,” explained Mr Al-Fadhli.

The pair set up Fresh Pom from scratch, importing the red-seeded fruits from Turkey, Spain, Egypt or Peru, depending on where they’re in season.

The juice shop has since gone viral on social media, sometimes getting through more than 200 of the pomegranates on a hot day.

The brothers now have a third shop in the works. “If I give you a pomegranate and you squeeze it, you will never make it the same,” Mr Al-Fadhli said.

“But if you leave it in the fridge after you cut it open, it makes it sweeter. The secret is the amount of time you leave it in the fridge.”