HONGKONG'S best-known fish and chip emporium, Harry Ramsden's, has become the latest casualty in the crackdown on unlicensed restaurants.
Earlier this month, police officers ordered staff in the Queen's Road East eatery to stop serving alcohol while its liquor licence was being considered by the Urban Council.
Harry's had been happily pouring vast quantities of local brews and imported Tetley's bitter to accompany the mounds of haddock and chipped potatoes it has been serving since it opened in August.
However, an innocent request for a beer to wash down P.S.'s Harry's Special one lunchtime last week had an embarrassed waitress saying we would have to stick to tea or soft drinks.
The Urban Services Department confirmed the restaurant's application was still being processed and that Harry's would not be able to serve alcohol until a liquor licence was issued.
The bar area is looking rather forlorn now with two decorative stacks of Harry Ramsden tea mugs standing where the spirits optics used to be, and cloths draped like shrouds over the beer pumps.
General manager Mr Bob Teasdale did not reply to an invitation to comment. This was a pity since we wanted to know what he would make of comments by a senior police officer in Tsuen Wan last week that officers would not take action against unlicensed outlets in the Kowloon Panda Hotel that were serving alcohol because the hotel was ''a well run and managed place''.