Time called on restaurant closed by fire and then occupied by squatters

The founders of a Chinese eaterie in London have called time on the business they struggled to re-open following a fire and a subsequent occupation by squatters.

 

Peiran Gong and Tongtong Ren opened Chinese Laundry in Upper Street, Islington, in 2015 but were forced to close in February last year after a blaze broke out at the venue.

 

It was due to re-open in May last year but in December the business claimed that the building was being occupied by squatters who refused to move out.

 

Now it transpires that the venue will not re-open at all because the operators can't afford to do so following all the delays.

 

While the restaurant's website still states that "we are still working on the recovery of our restaurant from the fire incident that happened last year", a post on the business's Instagram account earlier this week said the lease was up for sale and the Chinese Laundry was now looking at relocating.

 

The statement read: "For all that you know, after an unfortunate fire incident Feb 2017, we've been working on getting the insurance to repair the building, meanwhile had to work on the planning permission to repair the damaged temporary structure on the terrace into a solid brick one - which is a permanent solution for the building as well as the neighbourhood.

 

"And then we had squatters issue in December. Now the squatters are out, the building is finally repaired, the planning permission is also granted.

 

"However, it's been 12 months for us away from business, and now the indemnity period had passed, we cannot afford to re-open here anymore. We are selling the lease, which will be all we have to re-locate Chinese Laundry.

 

"Start over again, stay tuned."

 

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