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If you're planning to revisit the newly-renovated Newton Food Centre, expect your visit to be cooler than before.

Literally.

Perhaps the most noticeable new element of the renovation work — done over the past three months from Nov. 1, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023 — was the installation of new fans in both the outdoor and indoor seating areas.

Other works conducted at the food centre include painting, mechanical and electric work, and roller blinds in the dining area to keep rainwater out.

The food centre had a boost in popularity as a supper spot since being featured in the 2018 film "Crazy Rich Asians".

In the daytime, it is also frequented by those working and living nearby.

Lunch crowd returns

Most of the old stalls appear to have remained at the food centre, and a healthy lunch crowd was seen on the first day of the food centre's reopening on Wednesday (Feb. 1).

During the food centre's closure, rental remission was granted to stallholders as they were unable to continue operating their stalls, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said previously.

Stallholders were also offered temporary stalls to continue their business at other hawker centres, if they wished to do so, and NEA said there would be no increase in stall rentals or service and conservancy charges at the reopened hawker centre.

The renovation work was first announced back in October 2022.

Background

Newton Food Centre previously underwent upgrading works in 2016, some seven years ago.

According to Roots.sg, the hawker centre opened in 1971.

Since September 2005, when the centre underwent a complete rebuild, stalls have been arranged in a horseshoe shape, with a central courtyard dining space.

Article images by Sherly Lieanata