London Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Europe. It is a centre for Chinese businesses, social, recreation and community activities for the Chinese community. It is also a world famous tourist attraction and represents the Chinese identity of a multicultural London.

Sandringham Building, an area on the East side of Chinatown is under threat. This busy, vibrant area stretching from Newport Place to Newport Court and onto parts of Charing Cross Road consists of a number of shops including a Chinese newsagent, an artisan shop and a Chinese fishmonger. It is also home to the Pagoda monument, funded by Chinese community businesses to protect the Feng Shui of the Chinatown community.

In May 2003, the property developer Rosewheel Ltd bought the 200-year lease of Sandringham Building. A year later, they served Notices to Quit to the tenants, with the intention of removing the Pagoda and re-developing the area to make way for a Trocadero style shopping mall. With rents for the retail units after development rising to 200-500% higher than the current level, existing tenants are being forced out in favour of the high street brands.

Without consultation with the Chinese community, Westminster Council and Rosewheel Ltd have been in discussion about the re-development plan, in spite of its obvious threat to the long-term sustainability of Chinatown. If the plan goes ahead, Chinatown will lose its cultural characteristics and the damage to the Feng Shui Pagoda will signal the end of Chinatown.

The building work for this re-development will last for at least two years and will cause disruption and irreversible harm to the trading environment of all the shops and restaurants in Chinatown. The congestion, plus air and noise pollution will force many Chinese shops to close, even before the completion of the re-development. Once completed, this re-development plan will push up rent in other parts of Chinatown forcing even more Chinese shops out of business.

Dimsum would like to ask its readers to join Min Quan and the affected tenants who have launched the Save Chinatown Campaign and will be organising a series of activities to save this integral part of Chinatown. Take part in these activities and sign our petition to register your objection to the re-development plan!
Min Quan
Contact: Jabez Lam,
Telephone number: 07940 514 268.
Address: Save Chinatown Campaign, 14 Featherstone Road, Southall, Middlesex UB2 5AA
Min Quan is affiliated to the Monitoring Group