How Hong Kong migrant in London’s Chinatown built Asian supermarket and restaurant empire

Stanley Tse, recognised recently with a plaque in London’s Chinatown for his contributions to society, founded Asian supermarket See Woo

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Stanley Tse in front of his Chinese supermarket See Woo, in London’s Chinatown. A green plaque has been put up there by Westminster City Council to honour the contributions he made to Asian cuisine in the UK. Photo: Lucy Mitchell

Published: 4:15pm, 9 Jul 2024

The late Stanley Tse Kwai-tsun, founder of See Woo, a pioneering Asian grocer in London’s Chinatown, has been commemorated with a green plaque in the famed district.

The British capital’s green plaques, launched by the borough of Westminster in 1991, are used to commemorate the “diverse cultural heritage” of the area and highlight buildings “associated with people of renown who have made lasting contributions to society”.

Blue plaques represent figures who have lived or worked in the buildings on which they are displayed.

Tse is the first Chinese person to be awarded a green plaque and the fourth to be honoured with a plaque in Britain; blue plaques dedicated to novelist Lao She, poet Chiang Yee and statesman and philosopher Sun Yat-sen are displayed in London’s Notting Hill neighbourhood, the city of Oxford and the county of Hertfordshire respectively.

Tse’s commemorative green plaque, above the entrance of See Woo in London’s Chinatown. Photo: Instagram/@chinaexchangeuk

“[The plaque] is a testament to what a truly remarkable businessman and an early adopter my father was. He predicted opportunities and saw what needed to change,” says Lucy Yuk-king Mitchell, Tse’s daughter and the former managing director of See Woo.

“Not many people know this, but my father was the first person to import bak choy to the UK.”