First Floor, Last Remnant of Bar Street, Announces Closure

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2020 may be over, but its aftershocks are still felt in the capital as yet another longstanding establishment falls victim to the difficulties of the past year. Yesterday afternoon, First Floor announced its closure on the bar’s official WeChat account. It’s last night will be tomorrow, Jan 30.As any good bar deserves, they’ll be going out with a blast, offering buy-one-get-one drinks all night for its final days, today and tomorrow (Jan 29-30).

No few Beijingers will be raising a glass to fond memories at First Floor

“A lot of businesses are facing [an] unprecedented sever test,” the announcement of closure read. “Unfortunately, we didn’t survive this disaster.”
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First Floor opened in 2010, making it an early bird in post-Olympic Beijing. Its closing now gives it a legacy bookmarked squarely between the two most reshaping events the city has seen this century.

Many a dart game was played at this Sanlitun bar

Standing on what formerly called “dirty bar street,” the alleyway that now connects the north and south halves of Taikooli, First Floor was already lucky to have survived the clearing out of nearly all its neighbors from the street, and as such it has continued to represent the last breath of an era that many Beijingers are fond to look back on.

In many ways, it has been a standard bar for the city – or rather, may have played a hand in setting the standards – with a menu of bar grub like pizza, burgers, and nachos, matched with Belgian beer, martinis, and mojitos. But the bar was also something of an innovator, having invented dumpling pizza in 2014. Over the years, it has expanded its menu into an impressive cross between Western pub cooking and Asian cuisine (not limited to Chinese), with everything from fried mozzarella and sausage platters to spring rolls and curry puffs.

An innovation that surprised the city's pizza scene in 2014

So, if you’ve any fond memories of this Sanlitun classic, be sure to stop by this weekend to say goodbye with a couple of drinks, knowing that you’ll be supporting the owners on their next venture.

Images: Dianping, First Floor

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