Negotiating Heritage and Identity Through Restaurant Entrepreneurship in London’s Soho Chinatown

This project examines how Chinese restaurant owners and operators in London’s Soho Chinatown navigate rapid change. Restaurants are central to Chinatown’s economy and to how “Chinatown” is publicly represented through food, space, and everyday hospitality practices. As tourism markets shift and new culinary trends emerge, operators make practical decisions about menus, branding, service, and target customers—often while responding to expectations around authenticity, heritage, and cultural identity.

The intern will conduct approximately 15 in-depth interviews with restaurant owners and managers and conduct field observations in Soho Chinatown. The study will include intergenerational perspectives within the same restaurants to understand succession and continuity. The sample will reflect diverse restaurant types, including long-established Cantonese/Hong Kong–linked businesses and newer ventures such as hot pot, bubble tea, and other contemporary regional cuisines. Visual documentation and archival materials will describe the challenges faced by business owners in navigating authenticity, identity, and succession.

Findings will be translated into accessible knowledge products, including a concise insights report for local stakeholders and curated visual and archival documentation, supporting more inclusive and sustainable Chinatown tourism and heritage initiatives. They will contribute to knowledge exchange through the International Conference on Chinatowns, to be held at the University of Alberta in September 2026.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elizabeth Halpenny

Student:

Partner:

Middlesex University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Tourism; Commercial Services; Other

University:

University of Alberta

Program: