Hong Kong nightlife districts Wan Chai and Lan Kwai Fong struggling to survive after year of turmoil

The devastating impact of the coronavirus on bars has added to already tough times that have seen tourists, sports fans and even US sailors stay away

Landlords in Wan Chai seem far more flexible when it comes to rent reductions than those in Lan Kwai Fong

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An empty Delaney’s bar in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Venues in Hong Kong’s two traditional nightlife hubs have suffered after year-long anti-government protests and the more recent Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:30pm, 22 Jun 2020Updated: 6:46pm, 22 Jun 2020

Neil Drummond stands at the door of Coyote Bar & Grill in Wan Chai and peers into the street. Tonight, he’s as likely to see tumbleweed pass by as a prospective customer.

This is the reality for Hong Kong’s historic bar strip on Lockhart Road – which started life as a red-light district in the 1950s – after the double blow of the year-long anti-government protests and the more recent Covid-19 epidemic. In Wan Chai and Hong Kong’s other traditional nightlife hub, Lan Kwai Fong, the past 12 months have been a tale of empty bars and huge losses in earnings.

Drummond, senior operations manager of Coyote’s, has never seen anything like it. As if the civil unrest and coronavirus emergency weren’t bad enough, there is another reason why business is so poor for him: the US-China trade war.

As tensions began to ratchet up between the two countries, the frequency of US naval ships coming to Hong Kong started to dwindle to one every few months. That was until last year, when the Chinese authorities stopped them making port calls altogether in response to US President Donald Trump signing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which allows Washington to impose sanctions on officials deemed to have violated human rights in Hong Kong.