Oriental City

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The lobby of Oriental City, around 1997

The Oriental City Food Court

Oriental City is a shopping centre in Colindale, London specialising in various oriental foods and items. It can be reached via Colindale tube station and also directly off Edgware Road. It has a dedicated car park, and 2 floors.

1 Shopping centre
2 Future redevelopment
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Shopping centre

Oriental City was previously a Yaohan Shopping Plaza; after the Yaohan company collapsed, it changed hands. Many locals and visitors still refer to it as Yaohan Plaza. Its address is 399 Edgware Road, London, NW9 0JJ.

The centre contains a large oriental supermarket (SuperMaz), and a food court with a range of foods from different areas of South-East Asia; stalls offer Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese foods including bento boxes and sushi, ramen noodles, and assorted Asian desserts. The food court is immensely popular with surrounding office workers and the North London community; and often becomes very crowded at weekends.

The food court is complemented by a number of oriental restaurants in the complex, with the majority of them located on the upper floor. The complex contains two Dim Sum restaurants, a Szechuan restaurant, and an 'all you can eat' restaurant. Outside, there is a durian stall and a satay stall.

Aside from the food outlets, the complex also contains a number of small shops. There is a high turnover of shops, with only one remaining original tenant in the facility, the Japanese tableware store, Utsuwa no Yataka. The centre previously housed an import game shop, a Sanrio store, and one of the largest oriental bookshops in London (Asahiya Shoten). Shoppers can now find a tailor's shop, a jeweller, a hairdresser, a beauty shop, Chinese medicine shops, a martial arts store, and a large furniture store. Oriental City also hosts a Sega Dome arcade which has been a feature since the complex's opening.

The centre is a focal point for the oriental community, often hosting weeks which promote the cultural identity of different South East Asian countries. These events typically consist of various performing arts, and the promotion of that country's particular cuisine.

[edit] Future redevelopment

Facade along Edgware Road

Entrance

As of November 2006, the future of Oriental City is in doubt, as the complex has been bought out by the developer Development Securities who plan to demolish the centre and replace it with a B&Q, a housing development and a school. The developers have stated that there will be provisions for the current tenants of Oriental City to continue in the new development. However, the current tenants object to this. due to the lack of their consultation. Tenants also noted that the complex took up to 9 years to complete, and whilst Development Securities claim any redevelopment would take 3 years most tenants do not believe they could survive the temporary relocation of their businesses.^[1] Aside from business considerations, the Chinese community fear any redevelopment will mean the loss of an important community focal point. The current tenants shut their businesses for a day to protest to the council at Brent Town Hall on 21 November 2006 feeling that they have been treated like 'second class citizens'. ^[2] The tenants' plight was backed by a long-time visitor of the Centre, ex-Arsenal football player Ian Wright, who met with London Mayor Ken Livingstone's planning officials in early December 2006 to object to the redevelopment plans. ^[3] In February 2007, the Chinese consul general wrote to London's mayor to express his "deep concern" about the project, calling for the proposal to be modified. ^[4]. The issue generated so much attention that it featured on an episode of Inside Out (London) broadcast on 23 March 2007 where Liu was featured.

[edit] References

^ 'Asian traders protest over plans to demolish "Oriental City"', The Independent, 17 November 2006 [1] (accessed 19 November 2006)
^ 'Campaign to save "'real Chinatown'"', BBC News, 17 November 2006 [2] (accessed 19 November 2006)
^ 'Wright backs Oriental City fight', BBC News, 4 December 2006 [3] (accessed 6 December 2006)
^ 'Beijing enters Oriental City row', BBC News, 8 February 2007 [4] (accessed 8 February 2007)