Ok, I think I’ve got this right…
This is a Guardian Lion, or Shizi and they are placed (in pairs) to the entrance of buildings to protect the structure and dwelling. In this case a Chinese restaurant. This particular lion was on my left so it should be the female. On the right, there was a chewing gum packet stuck in the lion’s mouth so he was obviously doing his job well (i.e. he’d just eaten the owner of the packet) or he wasn’t and was sleeping on the job.