The future of Hong Kong’s nearly 40-year-old Fringe Club is hanging in the balance as its operators prepare to retire, with the lease at its historic home set to expire next March after it was renewed for only a year instead of the normal five.
Founder Benny Chia told the Post on Thursday that the club, based in Central’s Old Dairy Farm Depot, a listed building, would continue to operate under its board after he and its administrator Catherine Lau step down on Saturday.
But Chia said he was uncertain if it would stay at the location after the lease expired.
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“These are uncertain times. I don’t know what the board has in mind, but they have submitted a proposal to the government for what to do next,” he said.
The Fringe Club, founded in 1983 and a fixture of the city’s cultural scene, has organised live concerts and art exhibitions at its Lower Albert Road home since it opened its doors in 1984.
What is the future of Hong Kong’s Fringe Club?
The landmark site, with the Fringe Club in the south block and the north one housing the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC), was listed as a grade one historic building in 2009.
Both organisations rent their premises from the government, which owns the depot, but the Fringe Club’s lease will expire in seven months and its neighbour’s two months earlier.
The Fringe Club’s official lease on the striking red-and-white brick building started in 1989.
Chia said previous leases had run for five years at a time, but the last one granted by the government only ran for a year until March 2023 and that no explanation for the change was given.
A spokesman for the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said authorities would review the use of the building.
Keith Richburg, the FCC president, earlier said the club had expressed interest in remaining at the venue last December and again in May.
But Richburg said he had not received any updates as the request for lease renewal was being processed.
The last lease was granted in January 2016 and will run out next January.
Former city leader Leung Chun-ying challenged the FCC to give up its lease in 2018 after the club provided a platform for separatist party leader Andy Chan Ho-tin to deliver a speech.
Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club seeks lease renewal of premises in Central
Meanwhile, Chia said he was retiring for personal reasons, but that the social unrest in 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic had made it difficult for him to continue running the Fringe Club.
“In April 2020, we decided we could no longer go on and from that point onwards we operated according to all kinds of restrictions,” he said.
The club was forced to close its restaurants and bars in 2020 because of the pandemic and could only host exhibitions by appointment.
Chia said he and Lau had been running the club on a voluntary basis for two years, with part-time staff coming in once a week.
The Hong Kong band jazzing it up in a noodle restaurant
The Fringe Club has become a prominent venue for live music performances and art exhibitions. It is also known as a cradle for aspiring musicians and artists and is one of the few places in the city prepared to showcase newcomers.
Hong Kong’s top jazz musicians, Ted Lo Sheung-ching and Eugene Pao, who have played many gigs at the Fringe, praised it for its staunch support of the arts over the years.
“They were really promoting the new generation of musicians in Hong Kong, not just jazz,” said Lo, a pianist.
“They’ve done so much over the years, many up-and-coming musicians and artists would showcase at the Fringe at one time or another, because it’s one of the few venues they can play in.”
Pao, a guitarist, said the Fringe meant a lot to him because it was where he played his first concert in the city after he returned from his studies in the United States.
Performing alongside Pao during the show were now-legendary bands Beyond and Tai Chi, both of which were up-and-coming groups at the time.
The venue, surrounded by modern skyscrapers, is a rare example of the eclectic architectural style and features a variety of elements, from neoclassical to arts and crafts.
Its future uncertain, Hong Kong Fringe Club mounts retrospective art show
The south block was built in 1892 for the distribution of milk from the Dairy Farm Company’s Pok Fu Lam farm, while the north one was built later as an extension.
Lo and Pao said they hoped the Old Dairy Farm Depot could be kept for artistic use after the Fringe Club’s present lease expired, either with the team or another cultural organisation.
“It’s best if it could be kept for what the Fringe has been doing over the past years, to keep an avenue for artists to showcase their work, either live music or paintings and photography,” Pao said.
“Its interior has changed a few times over the years, but it’s still the Fringe because the building is quite unique in hosting such an organisation inside,” he said.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Jazz artists’ photos from Hong Kong’s vibrant musical past to go on show at the Fringe Club
- What is the future of Hong Kong’s Fringe Club? Movies, books – and English tea – all on the cards, but don’t expect the old days back
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