ORIENTAL City traders have raised serious doubts over the reopening of the popular Colindale market.

The Edgware Road site, which until June last year housed the east Asian market, has been repossessed by its previous owners after developer Peter Virdee failed to stump up the cash to complete the deal.

Landowners Development Securities are now considering developing the site themselves, finding a new owner or even reopening the building to the traders ejected last year.

Yip Fai Liu, who ran the China City restaurant in Oriental City and was at the forefront of the campaign to keep it open said 75 per cent of the traders have expressed a serious interest in moving back in.

He has spent the last week in negotiation with Development Securities but warned reopening the market is fraught with difficulties that could prove insurmountable.

“It’s still early days but not everything is amenable for us at the moment.”

The two main stumbling blocks are the cost of refurbishing the building, which has fallen into disrepair, and the length of the tenancy on the table, which Mr Liu would not disclose.

He said: “We’re looking at several hundred thousand pounds to get it through health and safety, but they won’t contribute enought towards it.

“The place was going to be demolished and a lot of people went in there and took what they wanted. The copper pipes are gone from my restaurant kitchen and they even took the door to my office.

“We would like to be there as long as possible but we need to way up the cost of it for a short lease. To be honest, it’s a bit of a joke.”