Yuk Luzn Man moved to the UK in 1975, and worked non-stop in restaurants and takeaways. Now it is his turn to be wined and dined
A man like Yuk Luzn Man simply does not retire. From the age of 14, Man always worked. In his twenties he moved to the UK from Hong Kong to work in his brother’s fish and chip shop in Southend. His memories of that time are of a permanent, fugue-like exhaustion borne of 12-hour days behind the counter, interrupted only by sleep.
Later, Man worked as a chef at Chinese restaurants across the country: in Manchester, Crawley, Norwich. His last job in catering was at a casino restaurant in Southend. It paid only the minimum wage and the hours were bad – 6pm-2am – but there weren’t many other jobs available. In 2015, at the age of 66, Man finally retired. A lifetime of hard work, with burning shoulders, aching feet and wrists sore from endless chopping, was finally at an end. Man could relax.
