“We can’t totally blame the landlords as the government plays a part by not offering landlords incentives to truly work with tenants. We are committed to reopening The Wanch when the time is right.”

After it opened in 1987, the small venue on Jaffe Road, running through the Wan Chai red-light district, evolved into the city’s premier live underground music bar. Regulars often compared it to New York’s CBGB, the influential live house that launched the careers of punk and post-punk bands such as the Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie.

While The Wanch did not have the space – or the budget – to host international bands of that level, it provided a crucial stage for countless up-and-coming Hong Kong acts, and gave them a chance regardless of what music they played – or often how well they played it. Perhaps the best-known musician to visit was Slash of Guns N’ Roses, although he did not perform.

The show went on seven nights a week – and entry was always free. It managed to survive longer than other famed local live music venues such as Backstage Live (2007-2015), Grappa’s Cellar (1999-2019) and Hidden Agenda (2009-2020).

While some bars with resident bands have been going longer, such as Ned Kelly’s Last Stand in Tsim Sha Tsui, The Wanch has been welcoming guest bands and all-comers from the beginning

The Wanch gave a start to many local musicians, such as Riz Farooqi, a stalwart of Hong Kong’s hardcore music scene. Farooqi performed at The Wanch with his bands King Ly Chee and Dagger for more than 20 years.

“King Ly Chee’s first show was at The Wanch in 1999. Every time we performed at The Wanch the audience was just made up of people who love music – whatever style it is. I’ve always played in a very heavy band that is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this doesn’t matter to the audience at The Wanch. If you give it your all, they eat up that passion and give it back to you tenfold,” Farooqi says.

The space that would become The Wanch was previously called the Diamond Bar, a venue that was typical of most nightspots in the red-light area of Wan Chai.

In 1987, the Diamond Bar was bought by Howard McKay and Rowland Hastings, who initially named it the Wan Chai Folk Club.

Brendan McKeon bought it from McKay in 2005, three years after Hastings’ death. Current managing director John Prymmer started helping out in 2008, and bought the business with his partners, Bridget Toon, a design and technology teacher, and Keith Goodman, a CFO in the marketing industry, in March 2010.

Paul Maclean, a Canadian drummer and music producer based in Hong Kong agrees The Wanch was like the CBGB of Hong Kong.

“It not only served as a place for bands to smash out a set, it more importantly was the best place in town to go and hang out with fellow musicians. I’m often asked how to start a band in Hong Kong and my first suggestion was always to go down to The Wanch on an open-mic night, meet some people, have a jam and then take it from there.”

With the doors now closed at every significant music venue in Hong Kong, Maclean and Farooqi believe the immediate future of the city’s live scene looks bleak.

“Even before Covid the future here was bleak because rents are through the roof and playing live original music is just not a big part of the fabric of this city. There is no ecosystem for bands to take their music seriously because, besides venues, there has to be a community of people who are eager to buy your merch and releases. That just doesn’t exist here,” says Farooqi.

Maclean agrees. “It’s depressing to see our music venues closing one after another and with no real end in sight. However, I have seen a lot of proactive bands in the studio over the past few months writing new material and recording, so when the live music scene does get back on its feet, there’s going to be one hell of a release party.”