Chinatown, London
Encyclopedia
The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London
. The present Chinatown
is part of the Soho
area of the City of Westminster
, occupying the area in and around Gerrard Street. It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries
, supermarkets, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses.
area of the East End of London
. At the start of the 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, setting up businesses which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands. The area began to become known through exaggerated reports and tales of (legal) opium
dens and slum housing, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in the current Chinatown. However, much of the area was damaged by aerial bombing during the Blitz
in the Second World War, although a number of elderly Chinese still choose to live in this area.
After the Second World War, however, the growing popularity of Chinese cuisine
and an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong
led to an increasing number of Chinese restaurants being opened elsewhere.
The present Chinatown, which is off Shaftesbury Avenue
did not start to be established until the 1970s. Up until then, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulougne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included a master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, Harrison Marks
' Glamour Studio, an Indian restaurant and various brothels. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard St, and then spread gradually. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974.
In 2005, the property developer Rosewheel proposed a plan to redevelop the eastern part of Chinatown. The plan was opposed by many of the existing retailers in Chinatown, as they believe that the redevelopment will drive out the traditional Chinese retail stores from the area and change the ethnic characteristic of Chinatown.
There is a large residential block called Vale Royal House which houses a number of families, professionals and single men and women. This block was built in the 1980s and is made famous by housing the China Town car park underneath it.
There are repeated claims that there are many illegal workers in London's Chinatown earning less than minimum wage. This illegal trade has association with the Triads, highlighted by a shooting in broad daylight in June 2003 in the Bar Room Bar (brb) on Gerrard Street. In 2007, immigration staff looking for illegal workers raided several restaurants in Chinatown, arresting 49 people. Businesses in the area held a strike in protest.
John Dryden
(1631-1700) lived for a while at 43 Gerrard Street, which is commemorated by a blue plaque
. Another plaque, on number 9, marks the meeting of Samuel Johnson
and Joshua Reynolds
the Turk's Head Tavern to found The Club, a dining club, in 1764. In fiction, Charles Dickens
sets the home of Mr Jaggers, the lawyer in Great Expectations
, in "a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully in want of painting, and with dirty windows [and with ...] a stone hall... a dark brown staircase ... dark brown rooms... panelled walls".
Centuries later, in the Roaring Twenties
, the 43 Club
was set up at number 43, as a jazz club
notorious for outrageous parties frequented by the rich and powerful. It was eventually closed down by direct order of the Home Office
and the proprietor, Kate Meyrick
, was imprisoned. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club started in Gerrard Street in the basement of No. 39.
In 1953, No. 4 Gerrard Street was a small studio where the theatrical photographer George Harrison Marks
and his partner Pamela Green
, lived and worked. By the late 1950s, with the success of Kamera Publications, they had taken over No. 5 next door and had a much larger studio on the top floor. In the early 1960s the ground floor at No. 4 became a gallery. The director Michael Powell
copied their sets for the classic film Peeping Tom
, in which Green also starred.
A basement in Gerrard Street was the location of the first rehearsal of Led Zeppelin
in 1968, where they played "Train Kept a Rollin". The exact location of the basement is unknown, and it is believed to have been converted into business premises many years ago.
Every year on the 2nd of September, all the restaurants shut in the evening to commemorate the death of Liao Dynasty
emperor Yēlǜ Xián, who is believed to have died on the same date.
The City of Westminster operates the Charing Cross Library with the Westminster Chinese Library.
The nearest London Underground stations are Leicester Square
and Piccadilly Circus
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The present Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
is part of the Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
area of the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
, occupying the area in and around Gerrard Street. It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries
Chinese bakery
Chinese bakery products consists of pastries, cakes, snacks, and desserts of largely Chinese origin, though some are derived from Western baked goods. Some of the most common Chinese bakery products include mooncakes, sun cakes, egg tarts, and wife cakes....
, supermarkets, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses.
History
The first area in London known as Chinatown was located in the LimehouseLimehouse
Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
area of the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. At the start of the 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, setting up businesses which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands. The area began to become known through exaggerated reports and tales of (legal) opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
dens and slum housing, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in the current Chinatown. However, much of the area was damaged by aerial bombing during the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
in the Second World War, although a number of elderly Chinese still choose to live in this area.
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
and an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
led to an increasing number of Chinese restaurants being opened elsewhere.
The present Chinatown, which is off Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....
did not start to be established until the 1970s. Up until then, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulougne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included a master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, Harrison Marks
Harrison Marks
George Harrison Marks was a British glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films who was active in the fields for several decades.-Kamera and Pamela Green:...
' Glamour Studio, an Indian restaurant and various brothels. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard St, and then spread gradually. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974.
In 2005, the property developer Rosewheel proposed a plan to redevelop the eastern part of Chinatown. The plan was opposed by many of the existing retailers in Chinatown, as they believe that the redevelopment will drive out the traditional Chinese retail stores from the area and change the ethnic characteristic of Chinatown.
Residents
There are repeated claims that there are many illegal workers in London's Chinatown earning less than minimum wage. This illegal trade has association with the Triads, highlighted by a shooting in broad daylight in June 2003 in the Bar Room Bar (brb) on Gerrard Street. In 2007, immigration staff looking for illegal workers raided several restaurants in Chinatown, arresting 49 people. Businesses in the area held a strike in protest.
Gerrard Street
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
(1631-1700) lived for a while at 43 Gerrard Street, which is commemorated by a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
. Another plaque, on number 9, marks the meeting of Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
and Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
the Turk's Head Tavern to found The Club, a dining club, in 1764. In fiction, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
sets the home of Mr Jaggers, the lawyer in Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
, in "a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully in want of painting, and with dirty windows [and with ...] a stone hall... a dark brown staircase ... dark brown rooms... panelled walls".
Centuries later, in the Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
, the 43 Club
43 Club
The 43 Club or "The 43" was a nightclub at in Soho, London that became notorious during the roaring twenties for outrageous parties frequented by the decadent rich and famous. Local myth provides many tales of provocative, licentious and sometimes criminal goings on. The proprietor, Kate Meyrick,...
was set up at number 43, as a jazz club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
notorious for outrageous parties frequented by the rich and powerful. It was eventually closed down by direct order of the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
and the proprietor, Kate Meyrick
Kate Meyrick
Kate Meyrick was an Irish night club owner in 1920s London.Kate Nason was born in Kingstown. Her father was a doctor, as was her husband, who abandoned her after eight children. She became a London club hostess and proprietor of the notorious "43 Club" at 43 Gerrard Street, Soho, London...
, was imprisoned. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club started in Gerrard Street in the basement of No. 39.
In 1953, No. 4 Gerrard Street was a small studio where the theatrical photographer George Harrison Marks
Harrison Marks
George Harrison Marks was a British glamour photographer and director of nudist, and later, pornographic films who was active in the fields for several decades.-Kamera and Pamela Green:...
and his partner Pamela Green
Pamela Green
Pamela Green was an English glamour model and actress, best known at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s...
, lived and worked. By the late 1950s, with the success of Kamera Publications, they had taken over No. 5 next door and had a much larger studio on the top floor. In the early 1960s the ground floor at No. 4 became a gallery. The director Michael Powell
Michael Powell (director)
Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...
copied their sets for the classic film Peeping Tom
Peeping Tom (film)
Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological thriller directed by Michael Powell and written by the World War II cryptographer and polymath Leo Marks. The title derives from the slang expression 'peeping Tom' describing a voyeur...
, in which Green also starred.
A basement in Gerrard Street was the location of the first rehearsal of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
in 1968, where they played "Train Kept a Rollin". The exact location of the basement is unknown, and it is believed to have been converted into business premises many years ago.
Every year on the 2nd of September, all the restaurants shut in the evening to commemorate the death of Liao Dynasty
Liao Dynasty
The Liao Dynasty , also known as the Khitan Empire was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper between 9071125...
emperor Yēlǜ Xián, who is believed to have died on the same date.
Education
- For education in Chinatown, London see the main City of Westminster article.
The City of Westminster operates the Charing Cross Library with the Westminster Chinese Library.
See also
- ChinatownChinatownA Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
- for more information about how and why Chinatowns developed - British ChineseBritish ChineseBritish Chinese , including British-born Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese...
- Wong KeiWong KeiWong Kei is a Chinese restaurant in London's Chinatown. It is one of the largest Chinese restaurants in the UK with seating for around 500 diners.-Building:...
- Brick LaneBrick LaneBrick Lane is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of...
The nearest London Underground stations are Leicester Square
Leicester Square tube station
Leicester Square is a station on the London Underground, located on Charing Cross Road, a short distance to the east of Leicester Square itself....
and Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
.
Further reading
"London's first Chinatown". portcities.org.uk. Accessed 11 April 2011.External links
- The official London Chinatown Chinese Association website
- The official Chinatown London website
- Reassessing what we collect website - Chinese London History of Chinese London with objects and images
- Chinatown Chinese Lion Dance