South Quay Plaza Archives

June 11, 2025June 11, 2025

Wutian and Kidwise offer martial arts and childcare in east London

How Wutian Martial Art Institute and Kidwise deliver services to help participants in their programmes grow and thrive

Valerie Shao, left, and Jai Chan of Wutian and Kidwise - image by Jon Massey — Valerie Shao, left, and Jai Chan of Wutian and Kidwise – image by Jon Massey

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For Jai Chan, growing up in Limerick, martial arts was an escape.

As the only Chinese person in her school, she was a target for bullies, but found empowerment by throwing herself into the discipline of Jiujitsu training as a teenager.

“My family came from Hong Kong and we moved to Ireland when I was eight months old,” said Jai, founder of Wutian Martial Art Institute, based at South Quay Plaza on the Isle Of Dogs.

“They were business owners running restaurants and takeaways – the usual stuff.

“I was always into martial arts because my dad’s side of the family were all policemen and they were all into self defence.

“I had a bit of a struggle, because they didn’t expect a girl to be interested in martial arts – my background was very traditional – but I really wanted to do it.

“I’d been doing a bit of Kung Fu at home and I didn’t start in a club until I was 13 – I took it seriously and paid for all my training myself.

“I even had to walk half an hour to get the bus.

“In martial arts, it doesn’t matter what culture you’re from, what your background is or whether you’re rich or poor.

“I found I had a talent for it – if someone showed me a move, I could repeat it immediately, so the instructors loved teaching me.

“It only took me two years to become an assistant instructor.”

A session at Wutian Martial Art Institute on the Isle Of Dogs - image by Wutian and Kidwise — A session at Wutian Martial Art Institute on the Isle Of Dogs – image by Wutian and Kidwise

the student becomes the teacher, then a founder

With instruction in Hong Kong mostly taking place on an informal basis in private apartments, Jai’s parents warned her against pursuing a career in martial arts, but by 15 she was already teaching children and adults.

A storied journey of training in multiple disciplines, competition and growth eventually led Jai to London with the aim of opening her own martial arts club.

However, her dream was initially deferred, as soon after arriving, she fell ill with Tuberculosis.

But Jai wasn’t ready to give up, taking on three jobs and launching her club, initially on a part-time basis.

Having successfully built her business over a decade, today Wutian is located on the Isle Of Dogs at South Quay Plaza.

“We offer kickboxing and Jujitsu sessions for children and adults and, when students reach higher levels, they also train with weapons,” said Jai.

“My instructor was the martial arts choreographer for the movie Ip Man and they have come over to help us with that sort of stuff too.

“We also offer a life skills programme to help children build confidence and develop their character.

“Parents love it because it deals with things like manners and cleanliness.”

Kidwise offers a wealth of activities for participants in its programmes to engage with - image by Wutian and Kidwise — Kidwise offers a wealth of activities for participants in its programmes to engage with – image by Wutian and Kidwise

creating Kidwise

However, this is not just a story about Wutian, there’s a second strand to the South Quay facility.

Having trained as a lawyer and developed a successful legal career, Jai’s business partner, Valerie Shao, had started to become more involved.

Feeling unfulfilled by the law, she decided to make a change, quitting without a concrete plan.

Then, inspired by the after-school clubs she attended growing up in Hong Kong, an idea came together.

“I always enjoyed them, perhaps more than school – learning music and art skills, for example,” said Valerie.

Together she and Jai created Kidwise in 2023, which offers holiday camps and an after school programme from the South Quay Plaza base, intended as a supplement to children’s time in the classroom.

Working with business mentors in the US, the duo spent time developing their offering.

“We’ve created something complementary to the school curriculum,” said Valerie.

“Formal education is a framework where one size fits all, but we go beyond that.

“Our programmes for kids aged five-12 are not just about having fun, they’re also about learning new things.

“For example, we have a partnership with waterside market Canary Garden where the children can try running a stall to learn about business, understanding marketing and creating things they want to sell to parents and friends.

“There’s also the chance to specialise in sports including martial arts, dance, gymnastics, dodgeball, rounders, football and more and we employ specialist coaches to run those sessions – it’s essential they are high quality.

“Our approach is the same with other activities. I was a bit shocked to hear that arts and crafts at some camps were not well supported.”

“We are constantly surprised by how creative the kids are,” added Jai.

“One of the tasks is we give them lots of materials, put them into groups and challenge them to make boats that can hold marbles while afloat.

“In one session, the oldest team put everything together and it held about 20 marbles.

“The middle group only used tinfoil and elastic bands and their craft held 60.

“But the youngest kid built a boat just from folded baking paper only and it held 90.

“Not only was it a great design, but she was also able to convince her team that it would work and they should try it.”

Kidwise specialises in sport and physical activity - image by Wutian and Kidwise — Kidwise specialises in sport and physical activity – image by Wutian and Kidwise

equipping individuals with skills

And that’s really at the core of everything Wutian and Kidwise do.

The aim is to equip those attending sessions with skills they’ll be able to use throughout their lives.

But there’s fun to be had too, as well as lessons in how to conduct themselves.

“At Kidwise, children can earn free time to play board games, classic Gameboys or Nintendo through exemplary behaviour,” said Jai. “We call it cave time and we have a room filled with activities.

“If there’s poor behaviour, we always start with warnings – we never want there to be bullying in our sessions.

“Some children don’t know they are doing it and we help them understand the effects their behaviour can have on others.

“As someone who was bullied, I want to make sure all the children in our care are safe at both Kidwise and Wutian. That’s our first priority.”

Safety is the top priority for both businesses - image by Wutian and Kidwise — Safety is the top priority for both businesses – image by Wutian and Kidwise

key details: Wutian and Kidwise

Wutian Martial Art Institute and Kidwise are based at South Quay Plaza on the Isle Of Dogs and offer a wide variety of services including date night childcare and birthday parties.

Readers can find full details of classes and activities can be found for martial arts here and childcare here

Both operations are based at South Quay Plaza - image by Wutian and Kidwise — Both operations are based at South Quay Plaza – image by Wutian and Kidwise

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April 4, 2024April 4, 2024

Isle Of Dogs: How Canary Garden is bringing some life to land beside South Quay Plaza

The newly opened market hosts a cafe, food stalls, a florist and workshop facilities beside the dock

Canary Garden is located on South Quay overlooking Canary Wharf

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One of the criticisms levelled at regenerated parts of London is that they can lack atmosphere.

Crisply manicured parks might look great as the promise of “public realm” is dangled before planning officials.

But the Isle Of Dogs is littered with odd chunks of land that don’t really do anything. Perhaps there’s a tiny kids playground, a few benches, a fountain or a sculpture.

So it was with a paved area of dockside waterfront on the corner adjacent to Sierra Quebec Bravo (a rebrand from the rather unimaginative South Quay Building) and South Quay Plaza’s Hampton Tower.

Despite its impressive views over West India South Dock towards Canary Wharf and Wood Wharf, this neatly finished open space had no obvious function – other than as a thoroughfare for pedestrians enjoying a waterside walk east, before diverting down to Marsh Wall to cross the Millwall Cutting bridge.

Enter Canary Garden founder Oscar Tang, local resident and entrepreneur.

“My wife Nadine and I live in one of the towers at South Quay Plaza and one of the things we’ve observed is that people have started to move in after the pandemic and the demographic is ever-changing,” he said.

“There are younger people from every corner of the world coming to the Island, but we’ve also found there are not many activities going on.

“The developers have built this infrastructure for a high density of residents, but not necessarily the amenities – there’s not much feeling of community.

“That’s why we thought it would be good to do something.”

Thus Canary Garden was born, a project to inject some life into an underused patch of land that’s just about to get into its stride.

Part cafe, part farm shop, part florist and part street food market, Oscar’s vision has arrived in the form of a series of greenhouse-like structures and wooden kiosks that will offer an array of attractions.

“We thought this place was really under-used and it could be much more fun – that’s where it all started,” he said.

“During Christmas we started to test out a few things to see what the neighbourhood was interested in and what people wanted.

“The immediate local area can be awfully boring at weekends – even the Pret is closed on Saturday and Sunday or after 4pm or 5pm on weekdays.

“We wanted to make this somewhere people could bring their family for a chilled out session and to enjoy a bit of sunshine, hopefully.

Florafind sells bouquets and offers floristry workshops

“We often go out to the countryside for a bit of freshness, a change of mood from the concrete city.

“That’s what we wanted to create here at Canary Garden.

“It’s based on wooden structures because we really wanted to build this as a reflection of nature.

“One of the disadvantages of living in an apartment in a city is that you don’t have a back yard and nowhere outdoors to spend time.

“At Hampton Tower there are 56 storeys, 2,000 people living on-site, but there is not much around the area – why not create something like a backyard?

“The idea is not too complicated.”

Already in place is a cafe, with indoor seating spread through three greenhouse-like structures.

Also up and running is Florafind, a florist offering bouquets and workshops.

Then there are a series of pine food kiosks which, from this month, will offer an array of culinary delights.

“We will have five food traders in total,” said Oscar.

“We’ve picked them from all across London and have tried to create a theme – at the moment the focus will be on oriental dishes.

“Each will celebrate a different cooking technique or niche dish.

“The first has a focus on the marination of ingredients, for example.

“The second will serve a particular type of noodles from the Chinese city of Suzhou, which is close to Shanghai.

“It’s a very traditional soup dish with one kind of noodle, two kinds of base, three kinds of topping.

Richly flavoured vegetarian noodles from Lu at Canary Garden

“The third will be Hong Kong street food, cooked by a lovely couple who graduated a few years ago and started their own business to bring the younger generation’s understanding of the cuisine there over to the UK.

“Then, the fourth will be a halal barbecue – who doesn’t like that over the summer with a bit of drink?

“Finally, we will also have a rotating trailer spot, where we’ll have guest traders when we sense there is a seasonal thing people might want.

“The next will be serving Malaysian cuisine with laksa on offer.”

With matcha brownies at the cafe, already a firm favourite, readers could be forgiven for thinking that Canary Garden is simply a food hall with great views and plenty of outdoor space.

But Oscar’s vision for the site is wider.

“We also intend to host other workshops and events including afternoon teas,” said Oscar.

“We’re already in touch with other organisers to see what we can include.

“That might include calligraphy, watercolour painting and aromatherapy.

“We’re also looking at theoretical beekeeping without the insects.

“We’re also working in partnership with the Wutian Martial Art Institute, which is based around the corner, so when the weather is warmer their kids can come and enjoy the outdoor space and do some activities.”

While separate entities, recent arrival Theatreship and forthcoming arrival Artship, will be neighbours to Canary Garden – something Oscar believes fits well with what it offers.

“We have collaborated and for me, I call it toothbrush and toothpaste – two things that go together very well,” he said. “It works perfectly for their audiences.”

key details

Canary Garden’s cafe is currently open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.30am-5.30pm. Food stalls are open from noon-8pm.

Group workshops at Florafind take place on Saturdays and Wednesdays and cost £90 per person for two hours.

Times vary and refreshments are included. Children’s workshops are available too and start at £55.

Find out more about Canary Garden here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

June 3, 2021September 20, 2021

Isle Of Dogs: Tiny Tigers offers kids and adults space to play at South Quay Plaza

The cafe and soft play space has been inspired by the principles of Montessori and the owners’ son

Tiny Tigers play area – image by Matt Grayson

By Laura Enfield

An indoor play area filled with things to climb, slide down and play with sounds like every little kid’s fantasy. And three-year-old Nico Reckers-Ng is lucky enough to have parents who have made that dream come true by opening Tiny Tigers Cafe.

Set in South Quay Plaza, the soft play fun zone is inspired by their son’s favourite things and the principles of Montessori, which encourage less noisy gadgets and more open-ended play.

The bright, spacious unit is filled with padded structures to climb and slide down, but also a host of mostly wooden toys and puzzles chosen to foster independent and imaginative play.

“There might be the occasional electronic toy but most of what we put in is supposed to try to create this environment where we switch off from electronics and move towards this organic, natural heuristic play that children learn and develop from,” said mum Elaine Ng.

“There is a sensory mirror and balls, trains, instruments, some books and I play piano for the children, so we have impromptu sing-a-longs.”

Nico gets to run amok in the play area when it is not in use and joins his mum for sessions, which has helped her stick to limited screen time during the pandemic.

Following Montessori ideals, TV is a rare treat and even during lockdown she avoided working in front of him, instead logging on after he went to bed and working until 1am to catch up on various tasks and cafe logistics.

“If I’m on my computer he just wants to climb on my lap and see what I’m doing,” said the former coder, who now works in wealth management for an American bank. “I try not to show him stuff on my phone either, so he doesn’t think it’s this amazing YouTube box.

“It’s tough because sometimes you would love to just throw them in front of the TV but, what I have found is, it’s quite addictive and they will ask for more and, if you try to engage with them, they are not interested.

“Whereas, when I’m playing with my son, he’s making things up and there’s a much more natural type of development that happens.

“I completely understand why people use TV and there’s no judgement at all, but we didn’t have TV for thousands of years and now when I’m on the tube and everyone is on their screens, I wonder what that means for social interaction and behaviour.

“Social media will have a lot of responsibility for the mental health of our children, things like filters and how quickly they grow up, scare me.”

Nico tries out some of the equipment – image Matt Grayson

Elaine wants Tiny Tigers to help children become interested in the world around them. Classes in baby massage, baby sensory and Frog Prince music sessions have just launched and she is planning special events to celebrate the area’s multiculturalism, such as marking Eid and Black History Month.

Elaine is Malaysian Chinese, her husband, Thomas Reckers, is Czech German and the couple would love to bring their cultures to the cafe through language classes.

“I love London because it is so multicultural,” said Elaine, who grew up between the capital and Malaysia.

“If you move to France you become French whereas in the UK you grow up being British but being aware of your own culture because we celebrate Ramadan, Eid, Diwali, Chinese New Year all these things. When I’m in London it doesn’t matter that I’m not white and I think that’s important for my son. I don’t want him to feel like an outsider.”

She and Thomas both work full time in finance and run the cafe in their spare time. And there have been more than the usual fun-filled ups and downs at the play area. The business was two years in the planning and finally opened last October, only to close again for five months when the second lockdown arrived.

It reopened again on May 17 with sessions limited to eight children and 45 minutes so staff are able to clean the play equipment thoroughly between each use.

“Nothing ever happens overnight is my long lesson after this,” said Elaine. “It’s been a huge learning curve and very hands-on, which we can do because we only wanted to open one place. If we were a big chain we would have just thrown money at it.”

The couple are running the cafe as a passion project rather than a money maker and Elaine said: “We would like it to break even at least, because we have put a lot of money and time into it. But, for us, it was more something that fitted into our philosophy of how we would like to bring up our son.”

Elaine said they wanted to keep costs down to make it as accessible as possible and help address the lack of facilities for the growing number of families on the Isle Of Dogs.

“Pre-maternity leave, I thought I would travel all over London with the baby, because that’s what I did before,” she said. “Actually, about 15 minutes from the flat was my maximum journey time. I was really disappointed by the lack of options on the island.

“In Canary Wharf the businesses are geared towards office workers and there’s not much space for prams, which I understand because they have to make their rent. I think people underestimate the number of families that are in the area and the infrastructure for them isn’t as strong here.”

Finding a suitable unit was a big challenge as the couple wanted to open something locally.

“Prior to Covid, I used to take Nico to central London for the Royal Opera House ballet class and its opera class and we would go to museums, art appreciation sessions and they were brilliant but just so much work,” said Elaine. “It was three hours of planning for a 45-minute session. We just wanted something more local.

“We wanted it to be financially viable, but also for the quality not to be compromised – that’s very important to me.

“Every time we do something I think: ‘Would I be comfortable doing this with my son?’ If the answer is no, then I don’t want it in my unit.”

Elaine spent two years visiting play areas with Nico – Tiny Tigers encompasses all the elements he enjoys but also thoughtful facilities for adults. Aimed at kids aged up to five, it includes dedicated buggy parking, adult and toddler toilets and a separate changing room with a waist-level counter that has walls on three sides so babies can’t roll off.

Elaine bakes cakes for Tiny Tigers Herself – image Matt Grayson

Adult and child tickets cost £7, with non-crawling siblings allowed in for free. If children are old enough to play independently, parents are encouraged to sit in the cafe area and have a drink and relax.

It serves Monmouth coffee, pastries from Paul Rhodes Bakery in Greenwich and food cooked fresh daily by the venue’s chef. Elaine bakes the cakes including a sugar-free option for kids and offers a toddler lunchbox for £4.

The volunteer with island-based charity Community Parents remembers struggling to play with her son when he was a baby and hopes the cafe can offer new parents the support she lacked.

“I didn’t know how much interaction to give him,” she said. “I went to Gymboree and just repeated what they did and I used to push him in the pram, talking to him about the weather. I felt like that crazy mum.

“I’m lucky to have a lot of support now, so that does take the pressure off me but I think it’s great when you can really interact with your children and I hope that’s what this place can offer.”

She also hopes it will fulfill their initial dream to give Nico a place to flourish.

“It’s a whole balancing act,” she said. “I don’t want my son to grow up thinking his parents were distracted by this.

“We built this for him and we go there as much as we can because we love to be involved and I really enjoy talking to the parents. It’s so important to me that he feels loved and knows I’m there for him.”
Go to tinytigers.club for more information or to make a booking

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