The only McDonald’s with a licence to serve beer in Hong Kong is closing down because the sailors who patronise it are getting fewer in number, a news report said on Sunday.
The harbour-side restaurant at Hong Kong’s Fleet Arcade had a special licence to serve beer because its customers included many thirsty, newly arrived sailors on boats visiting the territory.
However, demand for burgers with beer has fallen off sharply in recent years as the number of foreign ships docking in Hong Kong’s Victoria harbour has fallen.
The restaurant — opened 10 years ago when Hong Kong was still under British rule — will now close on Thursday, according to the Sunday Morning Post newspaper.
A spokesperson for the fast-food chain, which has more than 200 outlets in Hong Kong, said the decision not to renew the Fleet Arcade lease was ”a commercial one”.
Tony Wong, who runs a tailor shop next to McDonald’s, told the newspaper: ”We used to have about 150 boats [a year] in the good old days. Now it’s about 30 and only a couple of battle fleets.” — Sapa-DPA