Facing more challenges
For Trinh, five years ago when a friend recommended a courtyard in Dashibei Hutong south of the Drum and Bell Towers, he and his partner thought that they just found the perfect spot for their bar when they first laid eyes on it.
"We wanted to have our own restaurant and bar, plain and simple. We wanted something that was not downtown and cater to a different crowd than Sanlitun. We wanted to be different and hard to find, everyone's little secret," said Trinh.
During the past five years, he remembered that the bar has been through many changes. A lot of problems have appeared, including neighbors, floods, shady ex-owners, two-faced landlords, fires and inspections.
Trinh said that noise complaints are a big issue. He used to work in Sanlitun. There, customers were not your problem anymore once they stepped out of the doors of your bar. But in the hutong, you have to make sure people do not idle and make tons of noises after they leave. Because of these issues, you end up either having to win your neighbors over with kindness, or fear and mutual hatred.
"Then you have to worry about whatever new policy has been put in place by the individual departments of safety, property, health, fire, electricity, gas, and the water bureau," he said.
Benjelloun chose the current place because he focuses on niche markets where the competition is generally lower. But he noticed that the bar scene in the hutong is changing.
"What used to be an area of low rent and a relaxed environment has become an expensive hip hangout for many reasons," he said.
He said that there is also the fact that the hutong in general was never meant to sustain businesses like bars from an infrastructure perspective. Isolation and quality of buildings allow for the noise to travel too easily so you have to take neighbors, noise complaints and bathrooms into account.
In addition, property owners and ex-owners of the establishments are very important.
When he opened another bar two years ago, he was cheated by a landlord who lied about having a business license, but later he found that the building was residential, which means that you cannot obtain a business license for it. Finally, the landlord broke the contract and asked them to leave.
Prospects for the future
Trinh thinks that the hutong bar scene is still young and growing despite many challenges.
He recalled that when they opened five years ago, 4corners was one of the first foreign-owned bars and restaurants in the hutong with Modernista and Temple Bar in Dongcheng district.
"It's been a very interesting transition. Back then there were very few foreign-owned or foreign style bars in the hutong. I would almost venture to say that these three places and Salud in Nanluoguxiang, started a bar revolution in the hutong. Many bars were popping up then," said Trinh.
When he first arrived in Beijing in 2007, foreign bars and restaurants in Sanlitun were mostly frequented by foreigners. As the years passed, more and more Chinese started to patron the establishments as well.
Jeremiah Jenne, executive director of The Hutong, a cultural exchange center in the Jiudaowan Hutong, said that the quality and variety of establishments in the hutong has grown, including innovative businesses like Great Leap, 8-Bit, Tiki Bar and the like. "It's a nice addition and alternative to the already mature food and beverage scene in Sanlitun."
He said it is natural that bars come and go. However, in order to weaken the influence of policy changes and other factors, he suggested that foreign bar and restaurant owners gain as much knowledge as they can about their landlord, get to know the neighbors and take the time to listen to their concerns, and be sure that the licenses are up to date and legitimate.
Trinh also advises future hutong bar owners to check the contracts, talk to as many locals and land developers as possible and try to understand what the government has planned for the development of the area where you want to set up shop.
Benjelloun said some bars and restaurants are already looking for new locations to push things and move away from the hutong.
"It's pretty clear that a big change is happening but we're not sure how fast and how big of a change," he said.
"This is a market for many things to happen and it's hard to predict."
