London’s Chinatown businesses fear their demise following Westminster council’s approval of multimillion-pound redevelopment of a large area at the heart of the community. Around 20 local businesses and 200 people are set to loose their jobs in the latest set back to the centre of the Chinese community.

Dimsum.co.uk has received correspondence that reveals that property developer Rosewheel has already gained approval to create a ‘Chinatown village’, in which Westminster council have agreed to internally renovate buildings in Newport Place and Newport Court.

In order to carry this out, around 20 local businesses will be forced from their premises by the end of March 2005, and over 200 members of the Chinese community are set to lose their jobs. A surveyor’s report for Rosewheel also indicates plans to increase rent to up to £200 per square foot in the new development. In doing so, existing rent will be almost doubled, and this would effectively lock out any local Chinese businesses from returning to the area.

Traditional Chinese businesses are frustrated at the underhanded negotiations between Westminster Council and leaseholder Rosewheel, and their consistent failure to consult the Chinese community about the redevelopment. When the notice of eviction was delivered on June 1st, Jon Chin of Golden Gate supermarket, Newport Place said that it was ‘The first I heard about it. Neither the leaseholders nor the landlords – Westminster Council - had told us anything about this.’

Rosewheel is also looking to redevelop the Newport Place area externally by extending shop fronts and pedestrianising the roads. As a result, the future of the pagoda landmark remains unclear. In a meeting held earlier on concerning the redevelopment, Richard Craig, the Westminster Council Officer, felt the ‘pagoda is of poor quality and in the wrong location’.

Richard Bowen who runs Rosewheel believes that the redevelopment is ‘110 percent Chinese themed’ but shop owners have been forced to embarked on a legal battle to have their licences renewed. More distressingly, they were advised to take compensation as they would have difficulty with the court proceedings and incur high costs.

This eviction directly effects around a quarter of the Chinatown area, but is set to cause significant damage that will reverberate around the remaining areas of London’s Chinatown. The new development will have significant impact on the character of the community.

A change to Chinatown - what does this mean?
Redevelopment would be another cruel blow to Chinese industry that has been beleaguered by bad press and scaremongering over several issues in recent years. Chinese catering has been hit by recent troubles with blame over the foot and mouth crisis and soy sauce scares. The recent plans to destroy the community’s character and trading environment with the redevelopment have caused great concern and distress.

Shaftesbury PLC, another landlord in the area has recently doubled rates in the area and community leaders fear that the change in rate around the Newport place area will give Shaftesbury PLC opportunity to do the same through the rest of Chinatown. This would effectively force out the Chinese community, and would bring in the large high street chains that would be able to meet these prices.

Chinatown remains vital as the number one meeting place for the Chinese people of all ages. To lose it would mean losing a place to get together with family and friends from all over the country. It would increase problems of isolation and destroy social bonds and community support within a minority that is already geographically dispersed.

On a wider scale, London is set to lose a vibrant and essential facet of its multicultural identity if the redevelopment of Chinatown means its take over by high street chains. An exhilarating historical and cultural feature that brings tourism and prosperity to the area, Chinatown remains the face of Chinese community. It is here that people from around the world can come and sample unique British Chinese culture and cuisine.

Community figurehead Jabez Lam believes that ‘Rosewheel is determined to put hundreds of shopkeepers and employees out of work. [The redevelopment] will break up the social fabric of those working, living and visiting the area.’

If you would like to support the Chinese community in defending London’s Chinatown, please email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text96665 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to find out more about public meeting times and efforts of the Save Chinatown Campaign.

 

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