Warren’s Singapore

Boat Quay

When I think back to 1999 when I first visited the pubs along the Singapore River in Boat Quay and the great times I had there it really saddens me to what it has become now. While there are still a few pubs in the are the number have dropped greatly over the years. What was the party area is now reduced to a few places holding on by there finger tips. New places open but few make it for more then a year or so. In Boat Quay, “Only the strong survive!”

Where the pubs were now you find restaurants and shops. The crowd is a trickily of what it was and the tours buses have stopped going there so places that once did great are dying off one by one.

This is nothing new for Singapore, all areas that once where party spots have come and gone like the Bugis area from the 70’s and early 80’s, Central Mall was hanging for a while but is taken over by restaurants and other shops and the Duxton Hill area made its come back in 2006/07 but now is on the decline after a lot of club owners were told to close down so the handfull of the remaining clubs do the best they can to keep in business since the number of customers had greatly dropped. The Clarke Quay Area was been rebuilt it has become one of the new areas to spend the nights as well as St James Power Station. So now it is BQ’s turn to either fade into the history of great places to party and become just another story to tell or is this the next area to be redeveloped which only makes sense due to it’s location to other night spots and riverside location.

So in the years to come what will happen to the BQ area, well it is anyone guess really but to bring life back into the area something really big will have to be done to bring the masses back.

One problem with the area is the lack of space to build a big club since each of the shop-house since units are owned by different people or groups. So if a developer wanted to undertake a project they would need to deal with each of them before any work could start that means time and a lot of money to buy them out on what could be a very risky undertaking.

I have spent a lot of my time in the BQ area over my 9 years so far I have seen pubs come and go, I have seen how to crowd will shift from one bar to the next. The hero to zero club, hot today dead tomorrow! While places like Harry’s and Penny Black still do well crowd wise there too I don’t see the same number of people at different times as before. Pubs in are area can look forward to a about 12 to 18 months of good times if they get the Expat crowd to come in like the BQ Bar did, but over time the crowd shifted to a new place and now it too is getting pretty quiet with the crowd mostly there only on fridays after work.

We will just have to wait and see what becomes of the BQ area over the years to come to find out its final fate, will one day it be redeveloped like the Clarke Quay was or will it make way for new high rise condo for the very wealthy or can the life be restored to the area and return it is former glory. Due to its location between the Sands Casino at Marina Bay and Clarke Quay I hope the area will be developed so you can them party from the reservoir up the river all the way to CQ.

Time will tell

Over the pass years (2004 to 2008) a lot of changes have happen in the clubbing scene in Singapore. Places that once were the hot spots to visit have gone away and new places have come in the lime light of places to party when the sun goes down.

Singapore as always looked to the future and what would be needed to keep it competitive if not ahead with the rest of the Southeast Asia in the business arena. Well not that is changing as the countries moves to liven up the party scene of the country. It first started with the lifting of restrictions on Bar Top Dancing and then operating hours, so now clubs can stay open for 24 hours if they are located in certain zoning areas or have special permits for extended hours.

Many of the large and well known clubs stay open as late as 3am with the majority closing around 5 or 6am on weekends. So when people in Bangkok are heading home at 1 or 2am Singapore is just coming to life. When the Crazy Horse Cabaret was in the country with is the only topless club but didn’t last for a year but it opened the door slightly for similar clubs to follow in the future, but don’t hold your breath waiting to see it. If it happens it will be a long time coming I think.

While Singapore has mostly small shop-house size pub over the pass year’s bigger clubs have started to open. Places like St James Power Station, Attica, The Arena, DOX, Zicra, and the new Top 5 are the new kids on the block and hot places to party at along with the famed ZOUK which is the oldest disco in Singapore and the best known.

In 2007 the largest clubbing complex in St James Power Station opened it’s doors and is doing well. With the investment needed to open such large capacity clubs the owner have to surely know the market to bring it all together and keep the people coming back over and over again. Many of the clubs offer special deals on drinks, membership, guest DJ from other countries come in and put on shows, these are just a few of the tactics used in the clubbing arena to keep their or get share of the limited supply of clubbers in the country.

For its size (small) Singapore has over 1100 places to go clubbing at. Yet by the tourist board the figure are only $2 out of $100 spent by visitors is spent on clubbing as stated in the Strait Times in June 8 2006. So how can this amount can be increased? Well first by changing the image of the country and a “fine country” and not being so “straight laced”. The party scene need to be the best it can be and the workers in the clubs have to be true party types to keep the party going on though the night.

Clubs and pubs in Singapore come and go quickly, where you visited 2 months ago may be gone to day, it happens just that fast here. Often with these places it is just a name change, some remodeling but the same management. People in Singapore like something new for a change, so open a pub and the first month it is packed but 3 months later it is getting quite then 6 months from that it is closed unless the pub has something really special going for it.

What are the hot spots to hit for parties in Singapore, right now Clarke Quay is doing pretty well with the renovations made earlier this year to the area and that are still going on. There you will find Attica, The Pump Room, Indochine, The Clinic, The Arena, Fashion Bar, Highlander, Bungy Bar, Crazy Elephant, and a few others. This area attracts a lot of expats and visitors as well as locals.

Then you have the Robinson Quay area as DBL-O, O Bar, and dbl-2, to list a few places.
Next you have Chijmes which house Le Baroque, Father Flanagan’s Irish pub, Gatsby Bar & Restaurant, Insomnia, La Cave Wine Bar & Restaurant and Liberte along with the other clubs in the surround area.

Orchard and Scotts Roads are well known places but you also have the out area places like Holland Village, Dempsey Road, East Coast Road, Joo Chiat Road, Geylang Road and Changi Village all have their appeal for different taste in clubbing.

So now lets look down the road a few years, right now Singapore gets about 5.5 million visitors by 2015 the numbers are expected to be in the range of 17 million visitors. This will be due to the completion of the 2 casinos (one of which will be managed by the Sands out of Las Vegas) and the visitors coming in to gamble at the resort style locations. Along with the families come the single males and females and the young couples that want to get out and see the night life of Singapore. The path way is being laid now for the clubs to be able to operate in what will become a very happening place and be able to draw in the people from all over the world to party in one of the safest counties in the world.

While every place has it attraction that brings in the visitors Singapore has its own way of marketing its self to the world traveler. The Tourism Board works closely with the entertainment industry as will as other agencies out side of the country to attract attention to Singapore. The MTV Asian awards 2007 and MTV inaugural Asia Movie Awards and 8 ball pool championships are just a few example of events held or will be held in the country and with the Formula 1 night races which are held in September Singapore will surely put it’s self on the entertainment map in Asia.

But I guess the big question is just how much will Singapore loosen up and lets it’s hair down or will it try to hold somewhat to the image it has? The Crazy House Review, which had topless dancers, only lasted not even a year but I think that was mostly due to the high prices it had. Could one day we see strip clubs? I think not as least any time soon that is, but you never know. I really feel the night life is pretty good overall for Singapore. While Singaporeans try to keep a somewhat straight-laced image and not being to wild, unlike in other parts of the world but if the opportunity is there to get really crazy will they give a chance?

So let’s see what happens in the years to come.

(This report was updated 8 March 2010)