Walk into Park Hyatt's China Bar this weekend, and it'll be exactly the same as it was last time. On a good day, you can still look 500m north and see the CCTV Tower and burned-out Mandarin Oriental. On a really good day, you can see all the way along Chang'an Jie and discern the edges of the Forbidden City. The drinks are still good, the chairs no less comfortable, and the singer still has a great voice. But something's changed.

The difference is that China Bar's no longer the tallest bar in Beijing - and that means everything.

On the 80th floor of the Guomao Phase 3 tower, China World Summit Wing's Atmosphere Bar is the new holder of the "highest bar in Beijing" title, and by all accounts the place is something quite special. Have a read of our interview with Charly Kusaksizoglu, the man behind the bar. I haven't had a chance to go along yet - I'll be seeing to that this weekend - but Beijing Boyce has posted several times on the subject, with photos from the top. Of course, the view is very much dependent on Beijing's air playing along, but according to Mr. Boyce the cocktails feature generous pours of alcohol, the wine list is enormous and the at-present service charge-free pricing is reasonable considering the location and the fact that it's inside a five-star hotel. I suspect this spot will rapidly establish itself as a must-book-in-advance venue, which could well lead to increased prices, so get down and check it out before it gets really busy. And while there's no service charge.

Lots of other openings coming up, all kinds of stuff going on right now. Jaison's in Tongli looks like it could be ready for opening within the next month - at least, they've put the windows in. On Liangmahe River, the boat that used to be The Boat is going to reopen. Inevitably, the seafaring theme continues - the new place will be called Showboat. If the name sounds like it'll be a cabaret venue, their press release suggests there'll be a similar theme to the old Boat, with DJs in the downstairs cabin and chillout lounge on the top deck. The opening party is next Saturday, Aug 28.

One place that will have cabaret in the near future is Lan Club, which is working on a new Friday night theme featuring sit-down dinner and entertainment. In the basement of the Kunlun Hotel, Yan Club sounds like a Gongti-style club and is set to hold its grand opening on Sep 10. In the northeast corner of the Worker's Stadium complex, a new development is starting to take shape. It's going to be the home of the next ROOM project - which we've heard will be a pretty ambitious deal - as well as a boutique hotel, several well-known Chinese restaurants (South Silk Road to name one), and GT Club.

Across town in Wudaokou, the nightlife scene is getting a bit of a shakeup. We've already mentioned Laowai's Lounge - ignore the comedy name, this Lush-style cafe/bar is reasonably priced, offering five-kuai Tsingtaos, several pool tables, darts and air hockey. Downstairs from there is Solutions, which we've heard is reminiscent of all-conquering student club Propaganda. And another Wudaokou source texted me earlier this week telling me about a new bar called Midnight, under the KFC opposite the Wudaokou subway station. Our man in the Wu gave little away other than that Midnight is "Dark. Very dark." We are looking for a new Wudaokou source - applications to iainshaw@thebeijinger.com.

And with that, I'm off to try to enjoy the weekend. You do the same.