Donors smash £10k target to get Bethnal Green’s Frank Wang back in business

Commuters protested to keep Frank Wong's coffee stall outside Bethnal Green station. Picture: Dan McCurry (Image: Dan McCurry)

The Bethnal Green coffee stall-holder was forced to sell his cart and equipment to keep a roof over his family’s head after his power supply was cut off last year.

To help him buy replacements, well-wishers set up a Crowdfunder page but had to reach their £9,780 target by Friday or lose all the donated money.

They hit the magic number last night and have now gone £200 over it.

Supporter Sam Dodd said: “We are all utterly thrilled. It’s absolutely amazing. It’s such great news. Frank is thrilled. He seems blown away.

“We want to say to donors that we are so unbelievably grateful and bowled over by the power of the community. When locals come together for change, it really can happen.

“We are not as much of an individualistic society as it can sometimes feel. Everyone cares about each other really, and it shows when things like this succeed,” she added.

Thanks to his donors Frank can now invest in a replacement van which meets a new minimum width restriction and equipment including a coffee machine along with car batteries to help his power supply.

And in return they will receive a free coffee, 10 per cent discount and hug from the man himself.

Customers and members of the London’s Chinese community rushed to Frank’s aid last August when he lost his power supply when an upmarket café moved into a Tower Hamlets Council-owned converted toilet block feet away from his stall.

They gathered outside Bethnal Green station’s Cambridge Heath Road entrance to protest with a petition signed by 4,163 supporters delivered to London mayor, Sadiq Khan.

City Hall assured London Assembly member Unmesh Desai last summer that Frank could stay.