From Cloud Nine to Browns: A Brief History of Bar & Club Award Winners, 2004-2011

Voting in the Beijinger’s 2011 Bar & Club Awards closes May 9. That's tomorrow, so cast your votes soon if you expect to have any right to whinge about the results. Before the 8th round of winners are announced, we thought it was time to look back at the last seven years in Beijing's nightlife scene. Most of the best bars have stayed around, and even remained popular. But it wouldn't be Beijing if there weren't some favorites lost along the way.

2004.
Red Yard and Cloud Nine took the prizes for best new bar and best overall bar in the first year of the awards. Neither remain but given that Cloud Nine made it into 8 out of 15 categories that year it must have been popular.

2005.
Best Bar was Centro and the best new bar was Nanjie. Both are still going strong - though Nanjie has since relocated to the yard behind Pacific Century Plaza - and are nominated in this year’s awards. Centro is due to close for a well-earned renovation on June 11 but will return with a bang a couple of months later.

2006.
Browns swept the awards, taking the two top prizes, best overall and best new bar, and was dubbed “the biggest success of the year.” Mere months later, Browns was gone, though memories of punters dancing awkwardly on top of the bar counter linger.

2007.
China Doll hit the scene as the best new bar and apparently brought “a little extra class to Sanlitun.” Grabbing the overall prize was dark horse - and apparently upset of the ages - D-22. Maybe it wasn't such an upset - D-22 has just celebrated its 5th anniversary, while ChinaDoll closed, then reopened, then closed, then reopened, then closed ...

2008.
Q Bar took best overall bar, while Saddle Cantina claimed the title of best new bar. Both are still around, though one-time Q Bar partner George Zhou left the fold last year to open his own bar, George's.

2009.
Mesh, in the Opposite House, became the bar of the year, while Russian joint Chocolate was the best new bar.

2010.
Fubar became the second bar in the history of the Beijinger’s Reader Bar & Club Awards to grab both top spots. Seeing as Fubar is nominated in 7 categories this year and continues to be one of Gongti’s most popular options it seems to have escaped the fate of the previous double winner, Browns.

2011.
Check out our recent series of posts to find out what bars and clubs are in the running for Best Overall and New Bar awards this year.