70 more bars close down over Chinese New Year

The Hong Kong Bar & Club Association has again appealed to the government to allow a resumption of services, saying 70 bars closed their doors during Lunar New Year.

The Association told a press briefing on Sunday that, so far, more than 200 establishments have closed since the pandemic hit, and the government introduced social distancing measures, which means the city had lost 15 percent of its bars and pubs in six months, warning that the sector was on the brink.

The government ordered bars to close for three months after the fourth wave of the pandemic hit last year.

It relaxed social-distancing restrictions for restaurants on Thursday – but not for bars.

Bar owners accuse the authorities of showing favour to the restaurant sector, and said they could also ask visitors to use a government contact-tracing app or record their personal information – as long as they’re allowed to reopen – but they said they were disappointed that the government had not responded.

“Why is it that restaurants can open, but not us? Does our alcohol contain the virus?” said one employee surnamed Cho.

The group’s vice-chairman, Wing Chin, said the second wave of closures within the sector showed that thousands of workers had fallen into an “abyss”.

He urged the government to either let bars reopen, or compensate each business with at least HK$50,000, saying the previous government subsidies were not enough.