SINGAPORE – Less than two weeks after being lauded as one of the top 50 bars in the world, cocktail bar Sago House will have to close shop and move out of Chinatown to a new venue in Duxton Hill.

Last orders will be on Saturday, bringing to a close a successful three-year stint on the third floor of a shophouse in Sago Street.

Unable to strike a deal for a new lease with the landlord, its owners will set up Sago House in Duxton Hill, which is slated to open on Nov 7.

The award-winning watering hole – lovingly fitted out by founders Desiree Jane Silva, 37, Abhishek Cherian George, 38, and Jay Gray, 33 – opened in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic, just after the circuit breaker ended in June 2020.

It weathered several blows, including surviving the pandemic in the first year, having its licence revoked for about a month during Covid-19 business restrictions in the second year, and a failed marriage between Mr Gray and Ms Silva in the third year. There were also unending manpower challenges.

Despite all that, the owner-operated bar racked up an impressive list of achievements.

Most recently, it clinched the 32nd spot on the World’s 50 Best Bars list as a new entry on Oct 17 – one of only three Singapore bars to feature on the annual list, alongside well-established players Jigger & Pony (No. 14) and Atlas (No. 48).

In July, Sago House took the No. 10 spot on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, also clinching an award for the best hospitality team.

The 35-seater bar has regular patrons and a steady crowd, but once it made the list, Ms Silva said it saw an influx of new customers, especially tourists, who wanted to come in to have one drink, take a picture and check off a list.

Before the awards ceremony, Mr Gray asked for a meeting with the landlord to request a 10-year lease extension for the Sago House premises as his three-year lease was coming to an end. He was willing to pay more if it came to it.

However, the meeting happened only after the awards, and Mr Gray was told that the landlord wanted the space back for personal use. They had two weeks to vacate the unit.

Mr Cherian, speaking to The Straits Times last week, said: “We found out on July 28, just 10 days after placing on Asia’s 50 Best Bars, that we got the boot.”

“We were told by the agent that there was ‘no need to reinstate the unit, to keep it as it is’ when returning it,” added Mr Gray.

When queried on the lease ending and what will happen to the space once it is vacated, the landlord declined to comment.

However, the team managed to negotiate a three-month extension and found in September a unit in Duxton Hill formerly occupied by cocktail bar Nemesis, which shuttered on Sept 30.

After a company takeover, complete with leases and licences, Sago House then had just 10 days to gut, repaint and transform the place in time to host visitors from the hundreds of international bartenders and journalists who had flown into Singapore for the World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony on Oct 17.

Sago House has been more fortunate than some of its food and beverage (F&B) counterparts that have been forced out of commission entirely this year by exorbitant rentals and a struggling business.

According to a Straits Times report on July 8, F&B businesses have had to deal with unpredictable crowds, smaller average spending and more competition.

In September alone, 323 F&B businesses closed, based on business registry data from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. This is the highest number so far in 2023.

Earlier this year, the shutters went down on cocktail bars Papa Doble in Keong Saik Road and The Kongsee in Gemmill Lane. Cocktail bar Jekyll & Hyde in Neil Road will close on Dec 31 after 10 years.

Sago House in Duxton Hill welcomed guests for a preview last week, but it is closed again as it continues to take shape in time for its official reopening.

“This stretch on Duxton Hill is one of the very rare shophouse rows in Singapore’s CBD that doesn’t have vehicle traffic right outside. That adds to the space and experience of getting here,” said Mr Cherian.

At the old Sago House, a weekly rotating menu of six cocktails was scribbled on stained-glass windows. This will be replicated in the new space.

“The offerings – such as the weekly menu – are going to be the same, but we’re also going to have a service bar outside, where you can get our monthly menu on draft or in bottles,” said Mr Gray.

“In pure capacity, on a busy night, we can now hold double the number of people of the old venue,” said Mr Cherian.

But while the team recognises that making it on the 50 Best list is a pat on the back from the industry and its peers, Ms Silva said it needs to keep Sago as Sago without selling out.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re on the 50 Best list. We’re a neighbourhood bar, no matter what,” said Mr Gray.

“Hopefully, our guests will feel equally at home in the new space,” said Mr Cherian.