China Garden to be take-away only
Sean Keywood
Friday, February 1, 2013
12:28 PM
A Chinese restaurant in the town centre is to become take-away only – with its owner putting the blame on new government rules on wages for foreign workers.
A notice in the window of the China Garden informs customers that it will be closing this Sunday and reopening on March 5 without the restaurant area.
Owner George Lai says the decision has been taken because the restaurant cannot afford to employ enough Chinese chefs, as under new immigration rules they have to be paid a minimum of £28,000 a year, and be given free accommodation.
Mr Lai says that the China Garden is not alone in facing problems due to this ruling.
He said: “We do a wholesale business in Plymouth for about three or four hundred restaurants, and we’ve noticed lots have closed down in the past year or so, because they can’t recruit anybody.
“It’s not to do with the recession – they can’t recruit because of the amount of money they would have to pay for an overseas worker.”
Mr Lai fears that the government’s high wage requirements could lead other restaurants to take on illegal workers to get around the rules.
Regarding the China Garden, Mr Lai says that if in future he is able to recruit more chefs the full restaurant could reopen again.
However, as it will now be running with just two chefs, the business could face problems if one is lost.
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2 comments
We as a family have been in Exmouth for over 40 years, to see the restaurant close is a massive blow not just to us but also our customers. We worked hard to ensure our business survives and has built up many other businesses throughout the South West, recruiting many local people, but authentic chefs are hard to come by and such high wages are not sustainable for any local businesses. Criminal gangs and other foreigners are getting into this country without any contribution into the economy and taking advantage of our social services. This is how our Government understands Immigration laws!
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China Garden
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
How sad that our government is unable to tackle the problems of mass immigration from within the EU, often by feckless workshy people, yet sees fit to punish the very hard working Chinese community who have invested much time and effort into creating businesses in the UK. Can anyone see any form of logic in decisions such as this?
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Ian Woolger
Sunday, February 3, 2013