Should part of London Road become Chinatown?
Would Sheffield’s Chinatown bring benefits to the city or create an ethnic ghetto?
Over the last few years there have been various reports regarding a proposal to officially designate an area of the city as Chinatown, although to date nothing concrete has been formally decided.
It is thought that any such development would be based around the London Road/Highfield area, a district that has traditionally been home for a number of Sheffield’s Chinese community. Three-and-a-half hectares has been earmarked for various restaurants, bars, a business centre and maybe a hotel.
Reactions to plan are varied. On one hand it is thought such an area would celebrate the neighbourhood’s diversity while developing tourism and boosting local businesses. Internationally, it could make Sheffield a more attractive proposition for Chinese investors, plus it may help draw in students from China to the city’s universities.
There are also reservations regarding the scheme and questions to be answered. London Road is presently home for multi-cultural mix of people from all over the world, so is it right to focus on one culture, creating an area just representing the Chinese? What would the impact be on a non-Chinese restaurant located within Chinatown?
Many of the famous Chinatowns of the world have been naturally created in port cities by immigrants; would manufacturing one in Sheffield be “fake”? Or does the fact that the idea has come from Sheffield’s Chinese community give it sufficient credibility? There is no mention of the scheme in the city centre masterplan, although of course not all of London Road is classed as being in the city centre.
In principal I’m cautiously in favour of the idea of Sheffield having a Chinatown, although it would need to be implemented with care and in full consultation with all existing residents, community groups, businesses and other stakeholders. If an agreeable and inclusive solution can be found then it could become an asset to the city.
Image by bits of rubble and used under Creative Commons license
The idea of a Chinatown is a good one, particularly since the idea has come from the Chinese community, but the fact that it would be artificially created could be a real problem.
I always think of London Road as the most multicultural zone in Sheffield – just look at the range of places to eat. It is an area which is alive and vibrant. Personally I wouldn’t want to lose that, I think would happen if the area became a Chinatown a lot of those businesses would probably just disappear.
Rather than converting an existing area, which already has such a strong identity, perhaps one of the nearby areas that are being redeveloped could provide a focus for a Chinatown.
I agree with your sentiments – if handled well and with agreement of the other people in the area I think it could be a good thing – certainly worth trialing.