Mr Singh said his community was well-known for its hospitality, which includes serving alcohol to guests at home and unlimited booze at weddings, adding even Punjabi songs promoted drinking.
“Everything I knew about socialising and connecting with others, it was all based around alcohol,” he said.
The father-of-two sought help in Bradford before moving to Birmingham, but found Asian people were underrepresented at services in both cities.
“If you don’t see someone who looks like you then you might feel this place isn’t for me,” he said.
Recovery meetings were often held in churches, he said, but he wanted a religiously neutral place and to move away from stereotypes.
“Shame and stigma are universal,” he said. “It’s not specific to the South Asian community.”
He said his life had now changed, adding: “Today, I’m everything I couldn’t be in my drinking, a son, father, husband. I’m living the life I was looking for in the bottom of a bottle.”