Eleventh Hour Deal Saves The Den
The Den will continue operating as normal, thanks to a last-minute deal negotiated on Monday to keep the long-standing venue open, at least for now.
"We'll be here tomorrow. We'll be here forever!" said a smiling bar manager Lisa Zhuang Monday night. A smattering of customers were in attendance around 9pm, some watching a replay of the Green Bay Packers vs. Denver Broncos NFL game. It seemed a surprisingly low turnout considering the outpouring of comments that filled the Beijinger's Facebook page, lamenting what appeared to be the end, announced Sunday night.
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation stated that while the bar was set to be shuttered, negotiations with the bar's landlord to extend its lease were successful at reaching an accord to keep the place open and running as normal, at least for the foreseeable future.
Given its prime location across from the northeast corner of the Workers Stadium and the rise of property values around it, it seems almost miraculous that the 24-hour venue continues to function in the same place it has since 1997.
Almost the entire area surrounding has been redeveloped in the years since The Den first opened. The China View Building next door didn't exist, nor did the massive Sanlitun Soho complex that sits to The Den's southeast, or Taikoo Li down the street. Most of the bars in the area were nothing more than street stalls selling RMB 10 drinks in plastic cups by the side of an unpaved road.
Questions about the venue's future have been swirling for at least as long as the ongoing (and seemingly stalled) renovations of the former City Hotel started several years ago.
The Den took home Outstanding Happy Hour in the Beijinger 2015 Reader Bar and Club Awards. However, despite its daily pizza happy hour from 5-10pm, it failed to advance to the second round of the Beijinger 2015 Pizza Cup, falling to nearby Q Mex. Oh well, it seems for The Den, there's always next year.
More stories by this author here.
Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @greatwriteshark
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Photo: Steven Schwankert/the Beijinger
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Submitted by Guest on Tue, 11/03/2015 - 09:41 Permalink
Re: Eleventh Hour Deal Saves The Den
The reason there was a "low turnout" was because most people realised that your initial sensationalist article was based solely on a WeChat comment from the captain of a rugby team.
The source was the manager of The Den, Lisa Zhuang.
At the time the story ran, she and the rest of the people behind the venue did indeed think they would be forced to close -- so much so that they told their regular customers this.
It was only the following day that a deal was worked out.
You can be sure this is not the last of the story.
There is more to the story that we don't know, but all indications are that there is a power struggle going on over that parcel of land or the property that is on it.
The area is controlled not by private landlords, but by the military police.
And any businessperson who is doing business with government agencies knows that it doesn't work the way "normal" private businesses work -- in a public-private deal, usually things exist only because the private business has a government patron in a high-power position that protects them.
But should their contact retire or be pushed aside in an internal power struggle, then the protection ceases to exist, and a venue's fate can turn on a dime unless a new patron is found.
I don't know for sure if this is the case with The Den, but I suspect it is. This is exceedingly common in Beijing.
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