Bar street heaven for expats, hell for locals (4)

"We've done a lot to ease the tensions, such as encouraging the bosses to close the bars at the agreed times and install soundproof windows for the residents," said an information officer surnamed Ding from the Tianping sub-district of Xuhui.

She said the district government has high hopes for the development of the bar street, which has spurred the renovation of Yongkang Road. "The facelift was meant to improve the surrounding environment and bring new business opportunities."

In the wake of the March water attack, the bar owners agreed to close by 10 pm, but Liu, whose 11-year-old grandson lives with her, is still not satisfied.

"The boy comes back from school at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Does he have to begin doing his homework after 10 pm?" she asked.

"Sometimes, just as I've been falling asleep at around 11 pm, the sudden screams from customers leaving the bars have disturbed me," she added.

Chi said her company holds weekly meetings with the bar managers to emphasize that they should stop taking orders at 9:30 pm and urge customers to leave by 10 pm.

"We're having a hard time between locals and the foreigners. We want to reduce the impact on residents as much as possible, but the two groups have their respective living habits," she said.

Miller said the bars will simply go out of business if they are forced to close at 10 pm: "It's when the expats are just getting warmed up."

Blaise understands that the buildings are old and the residents can easily hear the noise: "If I put myself in their position, I wouldn't like this place."

In a bid to mollify one resident, Blaise bought the man's room on the floor above his bar. He now uses the room as an office and the resident has moved to an apartment in a street 200 meters distant.

Chi said the bar owners considered buying the second- and third-floor rooms, but the plan fell through because the residents demanded unrealistic prices.

In June, the average price of a newly built residence in Shanghai was more than 28,400 yuan per square meter, according to the China Index Academy. Meanwhile, pre-owned apartments cost nearly 27,000 yuan per sq m, according to Soufun, an Internet real estate platform.

"My room is 15 square meters. If they paid me 10,000 yuan per square meter, how could I buy another apartment?" asked Liu.

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