Fall in Clarke Quay public order offences
Tighter liquor licensing hours led to improvement though numbers crept up again
The number of public order incidents in Clarke Quay plummeted in the three years after liquor licensing hours in the area were curtailed, though numbers have crept back up again in the last year.
Public order offences in the area, which include disorderly behaviour, rioting and voluntarily causing hurt, fell from 317 in 2013 to 111 in 2016, police figures show.
Under regulations started in 2013, bars and clubs in the area have to stop selling liquor by 3am on Sundays and weekdays, and by 4am on Saturdays and the eve of public holidays, instead of 6am previously.
The curbs were to tackle the "high number of violent crimes in Clarke Quay" and have led to a "significant improvement" between 2014 and 2016, together with police and community efforts, said a police spokesman on Saturday in response to Straits Times queries.
Liquor licensing curbs were later relaxed between 2016 and last year, to allow extensions to 4am on two Fridays a month, as well as for special events such as F1-related festivities.
Last year, however, incidents involving fights and drunken behaviour in Clarke Quay increased, with the number of public order offences rising to 235. Operators in the area said this is likely due to the fact that Zouk moved from Jiak Kim Street to Clarke Quay in December 2016, taking over a 31,000 sq ft space vacated the year before.
They credited Zouk with helping to boost the number of visitors to Clarke Quay from 10.8 million in 2016 to 12.3 million last year, but said that more clubbers naturally lead to more incidents.
The police said it is monitoring the situation closely and will make adjustments to the restrictions, or other interventions, if necessary.
The rules have hit some clubs hard. Mandopop club Shanghai Dolly shut its doors in April, blaming a 30 per cent drop in business after the rules were implemented; Attica, the oldest club in Clarke Quay, halved its space by closing its prime ground-floor unit last July, also citing a 30 per cent dip in sales since the curtailed hours.
Clarke Quay's management has asked for an extension of liquor licensing hours on more Fridays a month on a trial basis. The police said it is assessing the request.
Clubs lobbying for an easing of curbs said they have been proactive in helping to maintain order. Zouk, for instance, has made efforts to manage inebriated patrons by beefing up security and staying open an extra hour to sell water and soft drinks, said chief executive officer of Zouk Group Andrew Li.
Attica's co-owner Mark Brimblecombe called for "some sort of reward system for good operators, or to have the same timing across the board".
"It is quite demoralising to see new clubs opening up elsewhere and getting 6am licences when this was originally supposed to be a 24-hour entertainment district."
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