Govt To Allow Reopening Of Bars Next Week: Zeman

The chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, Allan Zeman, said on Friday authorities are to allow the reopening of bars from September 18 – after a two-month closure – if coronavirus case numbers continue to decrease.

Zeman was speaking in RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme as some anti-epidemic measures were eased at midnight, like allowing up to four people per table in restaurants and the opening of some sports facilities. Bars, night clubs and karaokes remain shut.

"The traditional bars, just for drinking, they're having major problems, many of them are on life support, I don't know how much longer they can hang on,” said Zeman.

“The government has said that if the numbers continue to come down, that hopefully September 18, which I think is next Friday, they should have the okay to go ahead and hopefully it'll be four to a table as well.”

He said as a landlord to a number of bar operators in Lan Kwai Fong that he has had to give rental concessions, otherwise the bars wouldn't survive and it's not easy to find tenants to replace them.

Speaking in RTHK's Millennium programme, Lam Hong-yin, the president of the Hong Kong Party Room Association, said it was unfair not to allow party rooms to re-open as people have been holding parties in hotel rooms instead.

He said that if party rooms reopen in the next stage as has been suggested by authorities, he hopes there can be a rebound in business for the sector, and they can recover about 30 to 40 percent of business by Christmas.