Plan to preserve historical character of Wing Woo Grocery in place
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Tuesday) announced that
a comprehensive plan is in place to preserve the character of the
renowned Wing Woo Grocery which has been in business for over 80
years at the ground floor of 120 Wellington Street, Central.
The store operator will close down his business this Friday.
The Wing Woo Grocery is located at the Peel Street/Graham Street
redevelopment project of the URA. The URA has extended an
invitation to the store operator to continue his business in the
shop until redevelopment takes place by paying the existing rent
and at the 'Old Shop Street' to be set up in the new
development. However, the operator declined the invitation
because of his advanced age and decided to retire happily with the
compensation offered by the URA.
"We fully understand his desire and respect his decision to
retire," said Director, Planning & Design of the URA, Mr
Michael Ma. "All along, we have attached a great deal of
importance to the preservation of historical elements in our
project wherever possible."
While the grocery store has rich historical elements, its
structure is in dilapidated conditions and it has recently been
given repair orders by the Government.
The URA has come up with a plan to preserve the key elements of
the Grocery. Details are as follows:
- The URA has appointed professional surveyors to measure and
record both the interior and exterior of the Grocery, as well as
its structural characteristics.
- The entrance of the 'Old Shop Street' in the new development
will be located at the present Wing Woo Grocery whose façade will
be preserved while at the other end are the three prewar shop
houses at 26A-26C Graham Street to be preserved for adaptive
re-use.
- To retain large furniture of the Grocery for display in the new
development.
- To work with academics and scholars on recording details of the
Grocery in the format of an oral history.
- To record details of the Grocery by video and photo-filming.
In addition, the store operator has reached a consent with the
LCSD on the donation of items collected from the Grocery for
display, as well as the donation of historical documents to the
Hong Kong Central Library.
Mr Ma is confident that the above measures will help retain the
essential historical elements of Wing Woo, which can be shared with
the public upon completion of the project.
Earlier, the URA has announced that an additional development cost
of $200 million will be used in the phased development of the Peel
Street/ Graham Street project so as to keep the nearby
century-year-old open market intact and to restore its
vibrancy.
(ENDS)