Little New Year Celebration for London Chinatown Due to Virus Rules

(AP) Every year, thousands of people flock to London's Chinatown and nearby Trafalgar Square to celebrate Lunar New Year.

It's a parade of dancing lions and musicians that organizers claim to be the largest celebration outside of Asia.

But not this year.

London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA), which organizes the annual festivities, announced in January that physical New Year celebrations would be cancelled this month, due to government lockdown restrictions and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Spokesperson Lawrence Lee says they plan to stage events online instead, but it won't be easy for the country's over 400,000 residents of Chinese ethnicity.

"It's going to be very hard because normally what we do you see on New Year's Eve, we have a big feast. All the families from around different areas or even outside the UK, they come back, and they'll have a big feast and then join together to celebrate," he says.

"So, most people will have to actually celebrate via Zoom or FaceTime. And so, this could be very hard."

Like much of the UK's hospitality sector, Chinatown's numerous restaurants - usually bustling with locals and tourists - have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Having spent much of 2020 closed, due to lockdown restrictions, they've been closed again since December as part of government measures to combat a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

It's unlikely pubs, restaurants and bars will be allowed to open before March 8, at the earliest.

Government restrictions do allow restaurants to open for takeaway orders, but few in Chinatown bother, says Lee.

"It's really hit us hard," he says.

"Normally Chinatown is full of people, but around this time, you can see hardly (any) people walking around. So, the actual business is reduced by at least 80 percent."

"For us in Chinatown, for us Chinese people, especially for Chinese restaurants the main problem is not being able to pay the rent, we need to pay to keep our staff, we need to pay the tax etc., all those are paid by us. We couldn't even pay the rent now. Even if they charge us by half, it's still impossible for us to pay, our business has literally stopped," says LCCA's chairman Chu Ting Tang.

"The Chinatown is pretty much dead now."

Chris Liu works in an admin role at two Chinatown restaurants, including Imperial China, one of the largest Cantonese Chinese restaurants in the area.

He says the period around Lunar New Year is usually one of their busiest, bookings begin flooding in six months before. They can expect to take around 80,000 pounds a week. But now, nothing.

"If the pandemic is still going to carry on, I don't know how we're going to survive after this," he says.

Liu says they did experiment with takeaway orders, but there aren't enough residents nearby Chinatown, situated next to London's usually bustling central Soho district.

"We did try a week for like a trial, to open for takeaway. We had three chefs coming in, and two front chefs to answer phone calls, taking internet orders. A night is like 100 to 200 pound business, which is nothing," says Liu.

Lee hopes the Year of the Ox might bring better fortunes.

Those characteristics of strength and hard work could be beneficial now.

"The Year the Ox is supposed to be vibrant and also very hardworking," he says.

"And so, it's supposed to be a very, very positive year, and I do hope that after the Chinese New Year is started, everything will be back to normal."

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.

To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.

Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake

Connect with us on…

Breaking News on YouTube