The Red Yard

Ah, the Red Yard..... too classy to survive.

Well, not that it was all that classy, to be honest - just another cheap'n'cheerful drinking joint offering decent pizza and bar snacks, in the tradition of all of the other F&B ventures of egregious local entrepreneur, Huxley. The surroundings, however, were considerably more swish than his various other dives: it was a traditional siheyuan - a rectangular house, with elegant rooms around all four sides of the central courtyard.

It was a transitional venture for Huxley, after the demise of his original hole-in-the-wall drinking den on the bulldozed Sanlitun South Street (and the short-lived Huxley's 2 at the South Gate of the Workers' Stadium), but before he had found suitable new locations to reincarnate these divey favourites (he now has three bars, Nanjie, Zoo, and a new Huxley's [my 'Haiku Bar'] - which, in their different ways, are probably three of the best bars in Beijing). He had ambitions to establish it as a bijou backpacker hostel as well, and had expanded his usual menu to include such delights as a 'full English breakfast' (great sausages!). Alas, he forgot the mantra 'location, location, location'. The Red Yard was a beautiful bar, but it was in the middle of nowhere - nearly two miles from the nearest subway station, and the best part of a mile from any other established bar, or indeed from anything of any note at all. It stood a chance with me because I like walking and it was only about 50 minutes' walk from my apartment; but it was never going to enjoy any 'passing trade'; and it couldn't possibly hope to draw any sort of crowd with 'special events' more than a few times a month. The backpacker idea fizzled as well; in fact, it never got off the ground at all, as far as I am aware. I was surprised Huxley persisted with this place as long as he did, considering how high the rent on it was. It was obviously doomed from the very beginning.

But.... for six months or so, for one glorious summer - back in '04, I suppose it was - it was the coolest place to hang out in Beijing on a lazy afternoon or a sultry evening.

I have particularly fond memory-losses of their Saturday afternoon promotion: any 3 from their extensive range of generously strong frozen margaritas for 50 kuai (that was about 6 bucks at the time). On one of the few occasions when I was able to round up a posse to join me, rather than just margarita-ing solo with a good book, I recall we got trapped by a sudden and ferocious downpour that dragged on from mid-afternoon to early evening. We had originally been full of good intentions of just trying a couple of margaritas each and then wandering on somewhere else, but.... that really was some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen in my life (that was in fact the storm I referred to over on Froogville a little while back): we couldn't possibly walk anywhere in that, and there were no taxis to be had either. We just had to sit it out patiently, while the cold, fruity cocktails did their insidious work on our brains.

One of my favourite afternoons in Beijing! A pity that it was actually a 'state of emergency' for many local residents.

So, farewell then, Red Yard. We miss the large, open courtyard. We miss the yummy margaritas. We miss the absinthe promotions (even if it wasn't quite the real deal). We miss the very good home-brewed brown ale. We miss The Barman getting the chance to run a place on his own for the first time.

The really good places seldom last for very long around here. We cherish the memories, but have little time for regrets. We are constantly being freed to look for new favourites, and it doesn't usually take too long to find one. That is the joy of the Beijing bar scene.