2025 was a tough year for Hong Kong’s bar industry, so how are new concepts carving a path forward?
Poignant closures included Stockton, The Daily Tot and Foxglove, but 2025 was also the year of the neighbourhood bar, from Mius and Oasis to Sugar King
Despite this being the year Hong Kong hosted its first edition of World’s 50 Best Bars (with Asia’s 50 Best Bars held in nearby Macau), the scene as a whole suffers from headwinds stemming from declining interest in alcohol and dining out, combined with a significant price gap with the Greater Bay Area, to which tourists and weekend revellers are flocking, as the Post reported earlier this month.
Bars and restaurants close every year, but 2025 saw the closure of extremely recognisable venues that have been serving the city for anywhere between half of to beyond a decade. Foxglove, which celebrated a decade this year, closed its doors last week. The Daily Tot shuttered just a few weeks before that, preceded by Stockton (est. 2014) earlier in the year. Last year, Dr Fern’s Gin Parlour and Please Don’t Tell were closed to make way for major renovations at The Landmark, Mandarin Oriental. The Envoy, The Pottinger’s outdoor terrace bar, and its neighbouring speakeasy Room 309 also served their last drinks in 2024.
Foxglove on Duddell Street, Hong Kong, closed last week after a decade. Photo: Christopher DeWolf
“I feel very sad that these bars closed down for good,” says Jo Lo, co-founder of Bar Mind, a minimalist cocktail bar in SoHo. “These are the bars [that] really opened my eyes to Asian and Hong Kong bar culture.” Before opening Bar Mind this year, Lo spent almost six years at Room 309 and The Envoy as part of Tastings Group. In 2022, she won Diageo World Class Hong Kong & Macau Bartender of the Year.
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“This year feels like a market correction,” says Ming Cheung, co-founder of 001. “Rents have readjusted in some areas, but not enough. Consumer spending is more cautious. It’s a perfect storm – pre-pandemic business models are colliding with post-pandemic economics and consumer behaviour. It’s a cleansing, but a painful one for the culture.” Originally founded near Gage Street Market in 2010, 001 closed in 2022 before finding a new home a year later in Tai Kwun.
“Hidden bar” Stockton, on Wyndham Street, closed in May after 12 years. Photo: Handout
Opening a successful concept in Hong Kong requires a delicate confluence of factors. Rent and operational costs have to be kept as lean as possible. Lo observes that breaking even can take anywhere from six months to two years even with significant initial investment, cost control and effective marketing. John Nugent, founder of The Diplomat and co-founder of Sugar King, emphasises the fundamentals of business planning – maintaining doomsday, middle-of-the-road and success scenarios; pivoting as needed; and knowing the product and clientele.
