2020 FtLion (Covid) Year in Review
#FtLion received 1,291,198 pageviews in 2020!
It goes without saying that 2020 will be remembered as a year unlike any we’ve encountered in our life time or are likely to encounter for some time to come.
While the hospitality industry across the UK has been made to suffer with lockdowns and questionable Covid restrictions, our website has, for a second year in succession, surpassed the million pageview mark.
We’ve worked extremely hard this year to bring you up-to-date coverage of all important news and views – the good, the bad and the ugly; the triumphs, loses, cheers and tears – our vibrant Halal culinary community has patiently endured.
In addition, not only has our Youtube channel been going from strength to strength, having received over 500k views, but we’ve published 455 editorials across our website this year, 140 of which were new restaurant openings, as well as 80 news articles and 52 feature editorials!
Of course, with most of the country currently under strict covid restrictions, with London in tier-4 lockdown, we’re all hoping for a brighter, healthier and safer 2021.
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Top 9 Instagram Posts (38k likes)
38k likes! A huge thank you to each and every of you for supporting our cause in championing the noble concept of Halal.
- Our coverage of a racist incident faced by the owner of the fish and chips shop, Every Fish Bar, in west London, who also happens to be a black Muslim Nigerian, made the rounds on IG.
- Ramadan again proved to be our most popular month of the year. Kudos to all those businesses who, despite the difficulties, generously put up prizes for our readers during the lockdown period. No doubt, you’ll have brought a lot of joy to all our winners.
- The nationwide coverage of Last Stop Kebab meant that our review of their famous red London bus-cum-takeaway restaurant was always going to prove popular.
- And Etles restaurant in Childs Hill – the first authentic Uyghur restaurant to open in London – also attracted a lot of interest when it came to our comprehensive review of them.
140 New Restaurant Openings
Saffron Street launching later today in Gants Hill was the highest viewed ‘New Restaurant Opening‘:
94 YouTube Videos Published (543k views)
Our most popular video this year was ‘Calls to boycott Tesco after airing Ramadan Halal meat TV ad’, with 100,070 views:
52 Featured Editorials
Featured Editorials have been a central pillar of FtLion’s editorial output. Our most popular article, and easily the most comprehensive of its kind, was the ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ Halal restaurants in east London:
32 Restaurant Reviews
While the number of Reviews conducted this year has been limited by lockdowns, of the 32 we were able to do, Last Stop Kebab turned out to be our most widely read (no doubt helped by the nationwide press they received):
80 News Articles
As the UK’s premier, award-winning, Halal food news site, not only did we cover important news, ranging from the selfless charity work of so many during this difficult year, but also published a number of breaking news pieces.
Our most popular editorial was The Colonel reopens limited Halal KFC branches.
23 Recipes
Recipes from celebrity and amateur chefs, including a number of exclusives. The most viewed was Lamb Rogan Josh by Masterchef’s Raheel Mirza who appeared on the hit BBC show earlier this year.
18 Your Say ‘Reviews’
One of the reasons FtLion was originally launched was to provide a platform for the many, who pay good money visiting restaurants, to have their voices heard. Our ‘Your Say‘ section is, therefore, as important as any other. Thank you again to those who’ve contributed towards furthering this site’s objective in empowering you. This year, and quite to our surprise, Shams Malik’s review Ambala in Slough offers more than your local Ambalas was a hit:
11 Discount & Offers
Exclusive discounts and offers right here with Feed the Lion. The most popular being again that London bus-cum-restaurant Last Stop Kebab in Edmonton with 20% off, which is still available.
5 Interviews
Our most popular was an indepth interview with 2-Michelin Indian Chef Atul Kochhar: ‘Darkest year of my life’ since anti-Islam tweet, with our face-to-face Q&A on Youtube also drawing in a huge number of viewers from across the globe:
