I'm half-Chinese, on my mother's side, and did my Social Work dissertation on the Chinese community in Liverpool in the mid-nineties. It was clear that the demographic of he community was changing even then, with many of the younger people moving away from the area and from the restaurant industry in general.
The point made about Chinatown moving to nearer the University is spot on. Another factor in all of this is the much greater proportion of people now from the Chinese mainland rather than from Hong Kong - many of the restaurants around Nelson street are Hong Kong-style restaurants where my mother would speak to the waiters in Cantonese. The language you hear in the shops and restaurants around Myrtle Street is mainly Mandarin.
Another great article The Post. Had some great times in the post-nightclub Chinese restaurants on Nelson St in the 80s. Clubs closed at 2am and it was a way to extend our night out….. maybe another impact is clubs now open until 6am? My future husband used to give me his coat standing in that taxi rank :)
Apr 30, 2022·edited Apr 30, 2022Liked by Mollie Simpson
Excellent article. I enjoyed that very much. Pathos in spades. One of the best I've seen on Chinatown's struggles for a while. I think the author is right, not to simply point the finger at a lack of support from the council (though they could clearly make life easier). Demographic changes, changing tastes and a lack of dynamism within the community itself appear to be playing the biggest roles in its decline. But is the downward trajectory really the inevitable arc of history? Can Chinatown reinvent itself?
The business owners must take some of the blame for the decline of Nelson St. The restaurant frontages look ok of a night with their bright lights, but when you look at the state the buildings are in during the day, you think wow, I actually ate food from there! The floors above the ground floor shops are shocking and look derelict. Whoever owns the buildings in Nelson St have never invested in them. That’s a no no in any business and I’ve watched the restaurants in Nelson St fall further into disrepair since I was a child, through lack of maintenance and investment. The council can certainly do more, but so can the Chinese community. I also believe building a huge Chinese supermarket and restaurant, namely the Tai Pan on Great Howard St, miles away from China Town was a massive nail in the coffin. People travel all over to go there.
As one of the adopted sons of Liverpool for more than sixty years, I used to know the original owners of every one of those establishments in China town the article mentioned. It was not only the oldest China Town in Europe, it was also one of the most populous and it would have stayed that way if the militant-controlled city council in the late 70s had not drew up plans to raze it to the ground and build an inner ring road in its place. After all the people in that area were sent notices of this plan, it inevitably triggered an exodus of Chinese people from Liverpool with most of them relocated to Manchester and its suburbs and as the result other outside investors followed suit by redirecting their investments to those other places as well.
If not for Derek Hatten, Andy Burnum most probably would not have a job now.
Liverpool China town has been left mostly to its own devices in the following years because since then the city council was operating like a sack of ferrets. The now defuncted so-called New China project had nothing at all to do with the Chinese community. It was a scam conjured up by a group of shady operators trying to use the name to attract investments from overseas with more than a little the help from the unsuspecting Liverpool Echo.
There is a not great deal of optimism about unless there is a change in the political and economic climate Boris Johnson had managed to steer the country into.
Great article!
I'm half-Chinese, on my mother's side, and did my Social Work dissertation on the Chinese community in Liverpool in the mid-nineties. It was clear that the demographic of he community was changing even then, with many of the younger people moving away from the area and from the restaurant industry in general.
The point made about Chinatown moving to nearer the University is spot on. Another factor in all of this is the much greater proportion of people now from the Chinese mainland rather than from Hong Kong - many of the restaurants around Nelson street are Hong Kong-style restaurants where my mother would speak to the waiters in Cantonese. The language you hear in the shops and restaurants around Myrtle Street is mainly Mandarin.
Another great article The Post. Had some great times in the post-nightclub Chinese restaurants on Nelson St in the 80s. Clubs closed at 2am and it was a way to extend our night out….. maybe another impact is clubs now open until 6am? My future husband used to give me his coat standing in that taxi rank :)
Excellent article. I enjoyed that very much. Pathos in spades. One of the best I've seen on Chinatown's struggles for a while. I think the author is right, not to simply point the finger at a lack of support from the council (though they could clearly make life easier). Demographic changes, changing tastes and a lack of dynamism within the community itself appear to be playing the biggest roles in its decline. But is the downward trajectory really the inevitable arc of history? Can Chinatown reinvent itself?
The business owners must take some of the blame for the decline of Nelson St. The restaurant frontages look ok of a night with their bright lights, but when you look at the state the buildings are in during the day, you think wow, I actually ate food from there! The floors above the ground floor shops are shocking and look derelict. Whoever owns the buildings in Nelson St have never invested in them. That’s a no no in any business and I’ve watched the restaurants in Nelson St fall further into disrepair since I was a child, through lack of maintenance and investment. The council can certainly do more, but so can the Chinese community. I also believe building a huge Chinese supermarket and restaurant, namely the Tai Pan on Great Howard St, miles away from China Town was a massive nail in the coffin. People travel all over to go there.
As one of the adopted sons of Liverpool for more than sixty years, I used to know the original owners of every one of those establishments in China town the article mentioned. It was not only the oldest China Town in Europe, it was also one of the most populous and it would have stayed that way if the militant-controlled city council in the late 70s had not drew up plans to raze it to the ground and build an inner ring road in its place. After all the people in that area were sent notices of this plan, it inevitably triggered an exodus of Chinese people from Liverpool with most of them relocated to Manchester and its suburbs and as the result other outside investors followed suit by redirecting their investments to those other places as well.
If not for Derek Hatten, Andy Burnum most probably would not have a job now.
Liverpool China town has been left mostly to its own devices in the following years because since then the city council was operating like a sack of ferrets. The now defuncted so-called New China project had nothing at all to do with the Chinese community. It was a scam conjured up by a group of shady operators trying to use the name to attract investments from overseas with more than a little the help from the unsuspecting Liverpool Echo.
There is a not great deal of optimism about unless there is a change in the political and economic climate Boris Johnson had managed to steer the country into.