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What an Oriental pity
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| Kitty Hong, of Yummy Yummy Thai, at Oriental City, said she will have to start from zero |
Hundreds of traders face an uncertain future as their tenancy in one of London's premier Asian centres comes to an end.
They claim their businesses have already suffered because of the pending closure of Oriental City, in Edgware Road, and many are struggling to relocate before June 9.
The centre will be demolished to make way for new homes and shops after it
was sold by Development Securities in November.
The new site is expected to take three years to complete.
Chairman of Oriental City tenants' association, Yip Fai Liu, said the loss of trade will have an impact on thousands of families in the Oriental community.
"I have about 60 staff - some will retire and some may be able to work in my other restaurants, but about 85 per cent of them will be made redundant," he said.
"It's going to have a big knock-on effect on everyone in the area who uses Oriental City."
The complex, which at one time served almost 20,000 people a week, contains Malaysian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese shops and restaurants.
Kitty Hong, who has run Yummy Yummy Thai in the food court for eight years, said: "I have now got to find another job or relocate, and it's very difficult because all the properties are very expensive. I don't know what to do.
"Everyone here knows me but when we go somewhere else, we will have to start trade from zero."
She also complained that the area had become dirty and some facilities hadn't been maintained properly.
Wing-Han Hui, who also works at the food outlet, said: "It has got much worse here and it seems to have been let go.
"Quite a lot of people thought Oriental City had already closed so they haven't come and that has affected us."
But Peter Chapman, director of Orbit Property, which manages the site, refuted the suggestion that the site was being neglected ahead of the closures.
"Our client has the tenants' best interests at heart in the running of Oriental City, including the provision of both cleaning and security," he said.
The redeveloped site will include more than 500 flats, a primary school and a DIY superstore, as well as
300,000 sq ft of shops and cafés, some of which has been set aside for existing traders to return to when the work is completed.
But traders like Il Seop Won, who owns Koerana Cuisine, are anxious about the future.
"We need a new location and have been given very little money, but nobody has been able to help us," he said.
"It is going to be a great loss because people come here to enjoy the food, talk about the same issues and meet with people from other countries.
"The regular customers will suffer and many of the tenants can't find new shops, it's really not fair."
A spokeswoman for B&S Property, which purchased the estate, said: "We have actively tried to assist traders to find properties where they can relocate to.
"There is not an obligation on our part but we fully support Oriental City traders and their businesses."
8:55am Thursday 1st May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Corinne, Stanmore on 8:34am Fri 2 May 08
Peter Chapman is somewhat disengenous in what he says regarding cleaning and security. I have been to Oriental City a number of times over the last few months and one of the escalators has remained broken during the whole time. Further the amount of litter and debris which has accumulated on the broken escalator would indicate to me that the provision of cleaning is not what it should be.
Peter Chapman is somewhat disengenous in what he says regarding cleaning and security. I have been to Oriental City a number of times over the last few months and one of the escalators has remained broken during the whole time. Further the amount of litter and debris which has accumulated on the broken escalator would indicate to me that the provision of cleaning is not what it should be.
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