Asian traders protest over plans to demolish 'Oriental City'

It is one of Britain's most diverse ethnic communities, a hive of shops and small businesses, clustered around a large supermarket and a food court with counters selling dim sum, stir fries and sushi. You could be in Hong Kong or Singapore, but actually this is Edgware Road, in Colindale, one of the endless suburbs of north-west London.

Oriental City is probably the most unusual shopping centre in Britain, a self-contained purpose-built mall specialising in goods and foods from south-east Asia and attracting between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors a week, drawn mostly from the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malay and Filipino communities in London as well as further afield. Some have called it London's "Real Chinatown" - because the one in the West End is being swamped by tourists.

Now its new owner, the property company Development Securities, which bought the complex last year, is planning a massive £200m redevelopment of the site, which has met with strong opposition from many of the shopkeepers and restaurant owners, who want the local authority to reject the plans. Although the owners stress that the existing tenants will be able to return in two years and will be provided with alternative accommodation in the meantime, there is concern that it means an uncertain future for a complex which provides hundreds of jobs and plays a vital role in their communities.

The tenants says that the plans for other larger shops, including a DIY superstore and a furniture store in the new complex, will erode its distinctive nature, and that the two-year time limit put on their return by the developers is overly optimistic, and will lead to customers drifting away.

The scheme will be considered by Brent planning committee next Tuesday, when councillors are being recommended to back the proposal. The tenants have called a protest meeting today, which is due to be addressed by Liu Fei, chairman of the newly formed Save Oriental City Campaign and owner of one of its Chinese restaurants.

Mr Liu said: "This is a unique place which has an important part to play for a large number of different cultures from south-east Asia and which supports the livelihoods of hundreds of Far East families. My hard work in building up this restaurant over the past 10 years is under threat." Mr Liu believes the issue is an important test for the Chinese and south-east Asian communities in London, which have traditionally adopted a very low profile. He said it demonstrated that the Chinese in particularly were often under-represented in local decision-making processes and needed to be more active.

Built in the early 1990s as the Yaohan Plaza, it was initially aimed at the Japanese community of the outer north London suburbs, but has adapted to a much broader customer range. As well as the supermarket, where you can buy fresh durian fruit and every type of dried noodle, the shops sell a range of oriental goods including clothes, kitchen and tableware, crafts and pottery. There is a Chinese medicine shop, a hairdresser and a Sega games arcade. As well as a source of reasonably priced and authentic food, the Asian communities use the centre as a meeting place and for wedding receptions and other events.

Terumi Tomita, the owner of a Japanese tableware shop and the last remaining original tenant, said: "We are very unhappy about being moved. We don't know what is going on, no one tells us anything. If we are forced to go, we don't know whether we will be able to return, and whether our customers will follow."

In the food court yesterday lunchtime there was a wide mixture of people enjoying bowls of noodle soup and other Asian staples. Motoko Akiyama, an IT worker from a nearby electronics company, was making her regular weekly visit with two colleagues, also Japanese. All three agreed they would be disappointed if the centre was closed for any period. Ms Akiyama said: "We like coming for lunch because it is very good quality food. Sometimes I buy from the supermarket as well, which has real oriental foods."

Jason Tang, a Chinese takeaway owner, shopping with his wife, Debbie, and their daughter, said: " It is very important to keep this place going because it is somewhere new Chinese immigrants who don't speak English can come and find others like themselves. The people who run this place are only concerned about the money, not the future."

Development Securities stressed that the new Oriental City would be "bigger and better", with 30 per cent more space allocated to the Asian businesses, "retaining the important cultural and community spaces," according to a spokeswoman. The development will eventually include private housing, a primary school and a community centre. She said there had been numerous meetings with the local community and the sub-tenants over the past 20 months.