Club 71, go-to bar for artists, activists and creatives in Hong Kong, to close – killed off by the coronavirus pandemic
- Club 71, hit hard by a year of anti-government protests, and then by the Covid-19 pandemic, will close at the end of October
- The bar – and its predecessor Club 64 – were known for cheap drinks and a clientele that included ‘Long Hair’ and filmmakers Christopher Doyle and Herman Yau
Club 71 – the favourite bar of a generation of Hong Kong political activists, artists and media figures – will close at the end of October after failing to resolve a rent dispute with its landlord.
Co-owner Grace Ma Lai-wah said that, while the bar’s rent had been lowered to HK$45,000 a month from September 2019 because of the impact of mass anti-government protests sparked by an extradition bill, the landlord had wanted to start charging the original rent of HK$63,000 again.
She said there was no hope of reopening in a new location. “I have been losing money for so many years and I had been looking for someone to take over the business, but then came the anti-extradition protests and the coronavirus. I’m too tired … I’ve been working for the landlords for the past 30 years.”
Ma said the government should have “played fair” with its coronavirus restrictions. “We could have adopted the same measures as restaurants, for example, and remained open.
