- Wan Chai is evolving and changing as should be expected with so vibrant and dynamic a part of the city; the facility was out of place in such an environment
There has been a Fenwick Pier in Wan Chai since the 1870s, its site on the harbourfront shifting with each reclamation. From Johnston Road it went to Gloucester Road in 1929 and finally to Lung King Road in the 1960s, where it has been disused since 2013, being cut off from water by reclaimed land. In two years it will have disappeared, redevelopment plans calling for a fire station to be moved there from elsewhere in the district. An era will have ended, hopefully to be marked by a plaque or a similar reminder of a place many Hongkongers have heard of, although may never have visited.
Demolition for Hong Kong pier site that has served US navy for 50 years
The name is familiar because of the pier's association for many decades with foreign navy vessels. Sailors from 14 nations got on and off boats that took them to and from bigger ships moored in the harbour or if an aircraft carrier, deeper water beyond. A reception centre at the pier provided a place to eat, shop, relax and get information about exploring the city. Civilians could visit, but the remote location made it a destination only for the more adventurous or those with a specific purpose for being there, such as for a restaurant gathering or, if invited, to tour a warship.
Efforts by the Servicemen's Guides Association that ran the three-storey Fleet Arcade failed to win its preservation. Sailors now disembark at another pier in Kennedy Town. The days when up to 50,000 overseas naval personnel made Wan Chai their first stop of a rest and relaxation visit have passed into collective memory. Unlike the Star Ferry and Queen's piers in Central, which brought hundreds of people out to protest against their demolition in 2006, there is no public movement for grading Fenwick Pier as a historic monument; circumstances are markedly different.
Nor should the site be looked upon to help ease the dire shortage of public housing. Wan Chai's north shore is designated by planners for convention, exhibition and arts venues, offices and hotels and that is what will arise with the removal of the present fire station and three government towers on Harbour Road. Wan Chai is evolving and changing as should be expected with so vibrant and dynamic a part of the city. The pier was out of place in such an environment. Some will lament its passing, but that is the way of progress.
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