Dragon Gate Chinese restaurant closed its doors on December 15th after more than 30 years in London’s east end.

The place had a serious following. Families came back for generations, and plenty of people still remember ordering Combo B during their college years. Some joke they can’t even look at the letter B the same way anymore.

Dragon Gate’s closure is part of a pattern hitting traditional Chinese restaurants across the region. A lot of these spots were opened by immigrants who arrived in the 1980s and 1990s. Now those owners are hitting retirement age, and their kids are going into medicine or engineering instead of taking over the family restaurant.

The food kept people coming. Dragon Gate’s Szechuan beef and beef noodles had a devoted following. Customers regularly drove across town just to pick up orders.

The east end is now down another Chinese dining option, and locals are noticing the gap. Dragon Gate’s location never had great foot traffic, but the loyal customer base from the east end kept it going for decades through takeout and delivery.

The property has been sold to new owners. Current employees don’t know if they’ll have jobs under the new ownership, which indicated they might not keep existing staff. What happens to the building is unclear.

Dragon Gate joins a growing list of westernized Chinese restaurants that have closed in recent years. These spots adapted traditional recipes for local tastes, and they’re being replaced by restaurants catering to newer immigrant communities from mainland China.

During the last week of operation, regulars made final visits to grab their favourite dishes one more time. Some families had made Dragon Gate their traditional New Year’s Day meal spot, so this one stings.

The restaurant had been around since the 1990s for many customers. That’s a lot of shared meals and occasions.

Word about the closure first spread through local online community forums, where longtime patrons swapped memories and disappointment.

If you’ve got a favourite east end Chinese spot left, now’s probably a good time to support it.