Web design in Chinatown
Chinatown packs more than 80 restaurants, bakeries and specialist shops into a few Soho streets. A website here has to stand out inside that density.
Chinatown's streets — Gerrard Street, Lisle Street, Macclesfield Street, Newport Place — sit inside a conservation area first designated in 1974, marked by three ceremonial Chinese Gates, the newest opened on Wardour Street in 2016. The area holds more than 80 restaurants alongside bakeries, supermarkets and specialist retailers, almost all trading on landlord-managed streets rather than a conventional high street. We build the website that gets a Chinatown business found and chosen inside that competition — for £79.99 a month with £0 upfront design fee — and we can work on your search visibility too.
Example enquiry — not a real customer
Example design — fictional business
Why a website
Eighty-plus restaurants on a few streets means the search happens before the walk.
Chinatown's footfall is genuinely heavy, but with dozens of similar businesses within a hundred metres of each other, most visitors and regulars alike check a name online first rather than picking whichever door they pass.
They want to tell you apart from the next door
A website that says plainly what you actually serve, and what makes it different, does more than a shopfront that looks like a dozen others on the same street.
They check you're still open and what you serve tonight
Current hours, a real menu and clear contact details save a wasted trip in an area where visitors often decide on the spot.
They want to see the food and the room
Photographs of real dishes and the actual space do more to win a booking here than a general claim to serve Chinese food.
They want to book or order without ringing
A booking or ordering link that reaches your phone catches the group deciding where to eat while they're still walking down Gerrard Street.
Chinatown
A conservation area since 1974, built around three ceremonial gates and more than 80 restaurants.
Chinatown's current streets took their recognised form through the 1970s, and the area has been formally protected and physically marked ever since.
London's first Chinatown, in Limehouse
London's original Chinese community concentrates around Limehouse in the East End, before dispersing over the following decades.
Gerrard Street becomes recognised as Chinatown
The present Chinatown, centred on Gerrard Street, begins to be recognised as such through the 1970s.
Conservation area designated
Westminster City Council designates the streets around Gerrard Street a conservation area, extended again in 1982.
London Chinatown Community Centre founded
A community centre serving Chinatown's traders and residents is established, later relocating within the area.
Wardour Street Chinese Gate opens
A third ceremonial Chinese Gate opens on Wardour Street, joining those on Gerrard Street and Macclesfield Street.
What it means for a business trading here today
More than 80 restaurants trade within a few streets, so a business here is compared constantly, not occasionally.
Most Chinatown premises are let by private landlords rather than run through a conventional business improvement district, which makes a business's own website more important, not less.
The conservation area and its three Chinese Gates mean Chinatown is a genuine, deliberately signposted destination — visitors are already looking for it, which a website should make the most of.
Getting found locally
Eighty-plus restaurants competing for the same searches makes being found on Google matter more, not less.
"Chinese restaurant gerrard street", "dim sum chinatown london", "restaurant near me": searches that name the area directly, because Chinatown is one of London's most recognised food destinations. Website + SEO is the ongoing work of making sure that search finds you first.
- Local searches, agreed with you. We pick the three searches that matter most to your business — say, "chinese restaurant gerrard street", "dim sum chinatown london" and "restaurant near me" — and work on them every month.
- Google Business Profile. Set up and kept current so you appear on the map for Chinatown, with your hours, your menu and a way to reach you.
- Reviews from genuine customers. A simple way to ask satisfied customers for a Google review once a visit is done — a real edge among dozens of near-identical competitors.
- Pages for what you actually serve. Cuisine, set menus and the streets you trade on written properly, not one generic page for "Chinese food London".
- A monthly report you can read. A straightforward account each month of what changed and what's next, in your Client Platform.
We never promise rankings or a number of customers. We do promise consistent, honest work on being found locally — and to show you exactly what we did.
Built for you
A Chinatown restaurant needs a site as considered as the competition around it.
Chinatown is one of the most competitive small stretches of hospitality in London, and a business here deserves a site built with that competition in mind — not a generic template with the postcode swapped in. See Westminster City Council's own page on West End Filming Locations.
Every PrimeStart website is designed from scratch and custom coded on WordPress in HTML and PHP — no page builders, no theme bought off a shelf with your name typed in.
“There are dozens of restaurants within a hundred metres. The website has to say clearly why someone should choose this one.”
Why a Chinatown website needs more than a menu
- 1
A menu built for actual browsing
Dishes, prices and dietary information laid out clearly, the way someone stood on Gerrard Street decides where to eat.
- 2
A booking system that fills tables
Table bookings and group enquiries handled without a phone call, for evenings when every restaurant on the street is full.
- 3
Your reviews, shown where people compare
Genuine Google reviews shown on the site, because a street this competitive is won on trust as much as visibility.
- 4
Your exact street named clearly
Gerrard Street, Lisle Street or Macclesfield Street named directly, so a search for the right corner of Chinatown finds you.
What's included
Everything a website needs to run, handled for you.
You don't need to learn hosting, domains or WordPress. Every PrimeStart website comes with the technical side done and looked after — for as long as you're with us.
Design & build
- Custom design around your businessApproved by you
- Custom coded on WordPressHTML & PHP
- Up to 5 pages to startMore via your platform
- Mobile-first, fast loading
Hosting & security
- Hosting, included
- Domain name & SSL certificate
- Daily backups
- Security monitoring & updates
Changes & management
- Small changes when you need themWithin service scope
- WordPress & plugin updatesEvery month
- Enquiry forms to your phone
- Support from real people
Your Client Platform
- See your site's progress
- Request changes in a click
- Order extra pages
- SEO reports (Website + SEO)Monthly
We're on the website. Updates, fixes, backups and changes happen in the background — you'll only hear from us when there's something worth hearing.
How it starts
Choose your plan
Two plans. The difference is whether you want help being found.
Both give you a complete, managed website. One adds ongoing local SEO work to it. Pay monthly, or pay upfront and save 15%.
Website
A professional website for your Chinatown business, looked after for you.
£79.99a month
12-month plan. £0 upfront design fee.
Start my websiteDesign, build, hosting, domain, SSL, backups, updates, small changes, support and your Client Platform login.
Website + SEO
For businesses that want help being found on Google around Chinatown.
£349.99a month, in total
Includes your managed website. The extra £270 a month is the SEO work.
Start Website + SEOEverything in Website, plus three agreed local searches worked on monthly, Google Business Profile, reviews, technical fixes and a monthly report.
First payment at signup, no setup charges. Monthly customers own their site after the agreed 12-month term; upfront customers can take early handover once the site is complete and approved. Full terms on the pricing page.
Questions
What Chinatown businesses ask before they start.
The commercial questions, answered plainly. Anything else, ask us — a real person will call you back.
Not sure which plan?
Tell us about your business and how much of your trade already comes from passing footfall, and we'll say honestly whether local SEO is worth it for you yet.
Request a callDo you work with businesses based in Chinatown?
Chinatown has an unusually high concentration of competing restaurants. Does my website need to do more than list a menu?
How much does a website cost with PrimeStart?
Do I own the website?
How long until my site is live?
Get started
A busy street, dozens of neighbours. Give your Chinatown business a website that stands out.
Choose a plan, tell us exactly which Chinatown street you trade on, and see your first design before anything goes live.
Nearby
Around Chinatown
Photographs: Robert Lamb, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Numinosity by Gary J Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Ian S, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CGP Grey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · wanghongliu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons