Description
Chinatown is London's Chinese quarter, a few blocks of Soho between Leicester Square and Shaftesbury Avenue: red lanterns strung over the streets, bilingual street signs and more than 80 restaurants, plus Chinese shops of every kind.
The heart of the quarter is Gerrard Street, lined with restaurants, bakeries and Chinese supermarkets. On Wardour Street stands the Chinatown gate, in Qing dynasty style, made by Chinese artisans and assembled in London in 2016. Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard Street, is where the first Chinese restaurants probably opened.
This is London's second Chinatown. The first grew up in Limehouse in the East End around 1900, serving Chinese sailors in the docks, and was badly damaged in the Blitz. Gerrard Street took its place in the 1970s.
Music fans may know one address: Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" goes looking for Lee Ho Fook's, a restaurant that stood at 15 Gerrard Street.
The heart of the quarter is Gerrard Street, lined with restaurants, bakeries and Chinese supermarkets. On Wardour Street stands the Chinatown gate, in Qing dynasty style, made by Chinese artisans and assembled in London in 2016. Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard Street, is where the first Chinese restaurants probably opened.
This is London's second Chinatown. The first grew up in Limehouse in the East End around 1900, serving Chinese sailors in the docks, and was badly damaged in the Blitz. Gerrard Street took its place in the 1970s.
Music fans may know one address: Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" goes looking for Lee Ho Fook's, a restaurant that stood at 15 Gerrard Street.