Ever since the 2013 Little India Riots, the Singapore government has decided that “late night” and “alcohol” shouldn’t mix.
Hence, they came up with the Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act, which stipulates no sale of alcohol between 10:30pm to 7am in public places.
However, one “enterprising” coffee shop owner along South Bridge Road at Clarke Quay found a way to circumvent this law using – well, let’s just call it “optics”, making it easy to fool anyone’s looking as long as they aren’t looking too closely.
Or as long as no one rat out the owner!
Clarke Quay Coffee Shop Secretly Sells Alcohol to Customers After 10.30pm
Whenever a patron of the coffee shop orders an alcoholic beverage after the allowed time, the staff will then pour said beverage from its original can or bottle into a dark yellow-coloured plastic cup.
The colour of the cup effectively hides the colour of the beverage.
The staff will then chuck a straw into the cup and then grab a can of a random non-alcoholic beverage before serving.
From the outside, you’d think that the patron is drinking whatever non-alcoholic beverage that’s accompanying the yellow plastic cup on his table.
When interviewed, a reader of the Shin Min Daily (新明日报) told the reporter that his friend found out about this when he went to the coffee shop very early in the morning.
Even at night, there are several tables of customers drinking what’s most likely alcohol until late into the night.
This was what the reporter from the daily observed when he visited the place at 11pm on 15 Jul.
At that time, only two stalls were opened – the drinks stall and the fishball noodle stall.
Despite being late at night, there were five tables full of customers, each of them has a yellow cup in their hands.
The reporter also witnessed a staff member pouring beer into the plastic yellow cup and serving it to customers.
After they were done, some customers were even seen “dabao-ing” cans of beer, using transparent plastic bags to carry their purchases home.
Guess they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore… that’s how brazen they’ve gotten!
According to the whistleblower as well, the coffee shop attracts a lot more customers during the weekends and public holidays.
This is because once the nearby bars closed, they can continue their drinking at this very coffee shop.
Using the Drinking Hand Gesture to Order Alcoholic Drinks
When a staff member approaches a customer, they will use the drinking hand gesture and ask, “what do you want to drink?”
Considering how well-trained and subtle they are, it’s likely that the coffee shop has been selling alcohol secretly for quite a while now, enough to have established a system.
When asked, the staff revealed that the coffee shop operates 24 hours a day and that the staff works shifts.
The coffee shop also sells a wide variety of beers, with the prices ranging between S$3.80 to S$4.20 per can.
Featured Image: Heng Lim/ shutterstock.com
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