In the 1800s these godowns were cargo docks on a working river; today Clarke Quay is where Singapore goes out at night.
Named after Sir Andrew Clarke, the governor who presided over the 1874 Pangkor Treaty, the quay was gazetted for conservation in 1989, and its shophouses and warehouses reopened in November 1993 as a dining quarter. The oldest building, River House, dates from the 1880s, and two restored tongkang lighters, built in 1968 and 1972, recall the river’s working days. Upstream lies the quieter, residential Robertson Quay.
A S$62 million makeover, relaunched in April 2024, has repositioned Clarke Quay as a day-and-night destination, but it still comes alive after dark. It remains home to the long-running club Zouk. Bumboat cruises board at the jetty here for a loop of about 40 minutes past Raffles’ landing site and the Merlion into Marina Bay.
