Revitalise nightlife? Let's get the crowds out first

It's not enough to extend opening hours. Consider more car-free zones to tempt people to step out of their homes.

- Anjali Raguraman

Some of us of the thirty-something elder millennial ilk will remember the palpable buzz in Club Street and Holland Village, back when the roads were closed on weekends and parties spilled out onto the streets.

Like clockwork, the tables from bars at the sloping confluence of Ann Siang Hill and Club Street would be laid out on the street on Friday and Saturday evenings, ready for the onslaught of the post-work weekend crowd.

You would see the same in Holland Village, where you had to weave through tables and the crowd along Lorong Mambong to find your group that sometimes spilled over into the neighbouring watering hole.

But these areas have since lost their lustre. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the car-free zone in Club Street was suspended, and outdoor drinking banned in Holland Village.

These two areas — and other local nightlife precincts like Boat Quay and Keong Saik Road — have never quite been the same again since being gutted by the pandemic.

Factors like skyrocketing rents and plummeting footfall have left a string of closures and casualties in their wake in all these areas.

Circular Road, Boat Quay and Clarke Quay have also become ghosts of their former selves.

In a bid to revitalise the nightlife scene, the Government will allow businesses in these three areas to apply for their trading hours to be extended to 4am on Thursdays and Fridays from Aug 18.

Additionally, for the first time in 16 years, operators can apply to set up new bars, pubs and nightclubs along the Boat Quay waterfront, Circular Road, Lorong Telok and Canton Street areas.