Liang Court Goes Down for Good Next Year, and I Think It’s Clarke Quay’s Fault

This is it, the end of an era. Liang Court, home of many things Japanese, is going down next year. In its place will be a mixed-use, primarily residential replacement. But you know who’s to blame for this? Clarke Quay over the past few years, that’s who:

What’s happening to Liang Court?

Nothing, and that’s the entire reason it’s about to disappear. For more than a few years now, there’s been a lot of nothing going on in the mall. Books Kinokuniya left earlier this year, after 36 years of business; and that accounted for some of the mall’s last retail draw. There’s a Meidi-Ya supermarket and a number of restaurants; but that’s it.

As of now, we know the last of the tenants will be gone by March next year. Liang Court is itself will be replaced with a mixed-use development, by CDL, CapitaLand and Ascott. So far, all we know about the upcoming development is that it has 700 residential units, a hotel with 460 to 475 rooms, and 192 serviced residences.

Why is it Clarke Quay’s fault?

Clarke Quay has needed a thorough facelift for many years now. The height of Clarke Quay was somewhere between 2003 to 2006; at the time it was one of the top nightlife destinations in Asia. Every few months you’d hear about some new hotspot moving in – Crazy Horse, Ministry of Sound, etc. And it was an awesome, mostly safe place to party.

Fast forward to today, and what do we have?

Fights and drunks, or some combination of the two. In 2017, a group of Singapore’s bottom-rung types attacked three people and killed one. Two years before that, someone died trying to stop a group of people hassling a woman (and the people who killed him were gang members to boot). Search YouTube and you’re bound to see more than a few videos of fighting and rioting at Clarke Quay.

Think this is recent? Hah! As far back as 2012, there were reports in Shin Min Daily that Clarke Quay averaged 170 fights or violent acts per year. Those are just the reported incidents.

Geylang is practically a fine arts conference, compared to the weekend MMA ring that’s Clarke Quay. Want to see feral animals in their native habitat? Forget the Night Safari, just come to Clarke Quay on Friday night; please keep your arms and head in your vehicle at all times.

So where exactly do family friendly places – which would draw traffic to malls like Liang Court – fit in here? The answer is simply that they don’t. Liang Court wasn’t surrounded by the kind of area that would draw sufficient people to its supermarket, retail stores, etc. People associated Clarke Quay with riotous nightlife, and few others felt the need to go down there (especially during more regular hours).

Well, let’s look at what happens during the daytime

So many of Clarke Quay’s main attractions are catered to the “let’s hit on girls then hit on each other’s faces till 4am” crowd, that it has few amenities during the daylight hours. When was the last time you went to Clarke Quay for lunch? Or on a Sunday morning?

Most of the traffic comes in on weekend nights, because that’s who most of the businesses cater to. At any other time, Clarke Quay becomes dead town. There isn’t sufficient draw for the area, to sustain a mall the size of Liang Court. Sure, a few F&B outlets like Hai Di Lao can offset this somewhat; but not to a significant enough extent.

Even the draw of the nightlife is starting to fade

Marina Bay Sands is starting to draw the more upmarket and popular nightclubs. This leaves Clarke Quay in the unenviable position of being a zone for second tier nightlife. This is when an area has a lot of clubs, but the popular and upmarket ones are all elsewhere.

Over time, few things look sadder; because we could see an area full of clubs with torn up sofas, stumbling drunks, and sleaze. The whole area will need to be cleaned out (possibly with napalm) and restarted, to really bring it back up to its full potential.

For the sake of Clarke Quay and any new developments there, we’d better see an upgrade soon.

Did you visit Liang Court in the years before? Voice your thoughts in our comments section or on our Facebook community page.

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