Lan Kwai Fong celebrates alcohol duty cut, but go easy on the cheers

Bars in Lan Kwai Fong are celebrating their first weekend since the government announced a halving of duty on wine and beer, but many others seemed unenthusiastic about the budget cut.

At some Lan Kwai Fong Entertainment and El Grande outlets in the area, customers were left in no doubt about Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen's gift to tipplers as they announced cuts of up to 15 per cent off wine prices and 7.5 per cent off bottles of beer.

Outside the Hong Kong Brewhouse, at the top of Lan Kwai Fong, a banner read, 'Thanks, Mr Tang' and listed its price reductions.

Rhys Adams - marketing manager of El Grande group, which runs the bar - said: 'We wanted to pass the savings on to the customer.' He said suppliers had yet to offer the group a reduction in the prices it pays for beer and wine.

Bruce Ewan - manager of the Whiskey Priest, part of the Lan Kwai Fong Entertainment chain of Allan Zeman - said the bar was advertising its happy hour as well as the drop in wine and beer prices.

The Lan Kwai Fong Entertainment group said it was celebrating the cut in duty by offering happy hour prices to customers throughout last night, on top of the newly reduced prices.

But the manager of another bar nearby calculated that the savings on duty would account for only HK$1 of the wholesale price of an imported bottle of beer.