Mohammed Sultan Road -- Clubber's Paradise No More? ▶▷▶▷▶▷▶▷
Wednesday, October 31, 2007Text and Photography -- Irwin Yeo
Mention clubbing in the 90s and early 2000s and most people would invariably utter these three words: Mohammed Sultan Road.
Source: StreetDirectory.com
The Happening Sultan
Touted as the place to go for uninhibited clubbing fun, avid party-goers made a beeline for its seemingly ubiquitous pubs and discos every weekend. Often packed to the rafters with such people, clubs even had to reject entry on extremely crowded nights. Drunkards were also a problem as people threw up indiscriminately -- at pavements, on pedestrians, on plants, at the pub entrance etc.
The Languor Today
That was Mohammed Sultan Road in its heydays. Today, the road cuts a different look altogether. With stiff competition from outlets like Ministry of Sound (MOS) at Clarke Quay, Zouk at Jiak Kim Street near River Valley, D XO at The Esplanade and chill-outs pubs like Timbre at the Substation and Brewerkz at Clarke Quay, lesser party-goers are making the road their default destination for fun.
Be it on the pavement or road, hardly a soul could be seen at Mohammed Sultan
A recent study ranked Singapore as the second city in the world when it comes to quality of nightlife and entertainment, a result which comes as a surprise to many, given Singapore's stoic and prudish image. The reasons offered by the market researchers were that many established nightspots in Singapore were of world class standards and had vitality and vibrancy.
In view of such strong competition, the clubs and pubs of Mohammed Sultan Road inevitably lost much of their customers to the newer players in the market.
The impact was significant. When this writer visited the road on a weekend night, hardly a soul was in sight other than a group of pub employees chatting and bantering. Traffic on the road was also sparse and there were quite a number of empty parking lots.
Many clubs which were popular in the past had also closed down and made way for other new establishments like Korean restaurants and cafes. Examples include the wildly popular Madam Wong and other smaller establishments like Samsara.
Many clubs have ceased operations and have been takne over by restaurants. Other remain open for tenancy
What's Still Hot (For Now)
At present, Dbl O (pronounced Double "O") and Butter Factory remain the last two bastions of popular clubs frequented by large throngs of people during weekends.
Dbl O is one of the last surviving popular clubs of the road
Clubber Sam Goh was not surprised. "The clubs and pubs here have failed to re-invent themselves in the face of strong competition, so clubbers would naturally move on".
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By singaporeroads at 10:13 AM