Bangkok nightlife legend Ashley Sutton to open 3 Hong Kong bars, including Iron Fairies

Ophelia in Wan Chai’s The Avenue will be hidden behind the facade of a mock bird shop; Iron Fairies, originally planned for SoHo in 2014, and another venue to open later in Central

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The interior of Ophelia, Australian former miner Ashley Sutton’s first Hong Kong bar, which opens on May 18 in Wan Chai. .

Published: 12:15pm, 12 May 2016Updated: 12:23pm, 12 May 2016

The Bangkok bar designer who transformed the Thai capital’s nightlife scene with venues such as Iron Fairies is now ready to take on Hong Kong, with three new bars to open in the coming months.

On May 18, Australian-born Ashley Sutton will be unveiling Ophelia in The Avenue – the former “Wedding Card Street” site in Wan Chai. This will be followed by the opening of two venues on Wyndham Street in Central: an expanded Hong Kong version of Iron Fairies and a high-end bar called J. Boroski. Iron Fairies is opening in Hong Kong a lot later than planned - in October 2013, Sutton told the South China Morning Post he planned to open a local version of the iconic bar in Central in mid-2014.

Ashley Sutton in The Iron Fairies in Bangkok in 2011. Photo: Cedric Arnold

Sutton, a former miner, opened the first Iron Fairies in Bangkok in 2010. Uniquely, the venue combined a blacksmith’s workshop and steampunk-style jazz bar; by day it served as a metal factory where the titular iron fairies installed throughout the space were created.

Sutton followed up Iron Fairies with other Bangkok venues including Maggie Choo’s, Mr Jones’ Orphanage, Bangkok Betty, Sing Sing Theatre and Fat Gut’z.

Ophelia will be an Eastern-influenced venue hidden behind the facade of a mock bird shop called Mr Wong’s Aviary. In typical Sutton style, it will be full of extravagant quirks, such as 600,000 hand-painted tiles.