Rebirth of Cool

Hong Kong nightlife legend Gilbert Yeung takes a different approach to the city’s club scene with the revamp of his popular restaurant and nightclub Cassio. This time, it’s personal

- Coco Marett

“I used to be the naughty one, in their eyes,” Gilbert Yeung, owner of some of Hong Kong’s most prominent nightclubs, including Dragon-i, Tazmania Ballroom and Cassio, tells me, speaking of the government officials who have been as much a part of his daily life as wild revellers are of his nights.

For the past year, Yeung, along with fellow entertainment magnates including Allan Zeman, the “father of Lan Kwai Fong”, has met with regulators every three weeks to discuss how and when the city can safely reopen its bars and nightclubs as the pandemic continues.

“The government usually looks at me, or people like me, and assumes I’m the bad guy. So to have this open dialogue, to have these conversations, has been a silver lining during Covid-19,” says Yeung. “Back in the Seventies and Eighties, club owners were often uneducated or part of Hong Kong’s underbelly, but it’s good for them to see that today’s operators are educated and civilised businesspeople looking to contribute to Hong Kong’s economy.”

Yeung is speaking from behind his desk. His office is perched on the 30th floor of The Centrium, which straddles Arbuthnot Road and Wyndham Street, the heart of Hong Kong nightlife, at least as far as Yeung is concerned. Through vast corner windows, a golden-hour glow lights up the smattering of skyscrapers behind him.

Around his office are artworks he’s collected over the years, along with photos of his family. He points to one of a young girl: “This is my niece. She made me promise to never take her photo down, even after my children were born,” says Yeung, who is a father of two, with a smile.