After four long months of renovations, Old Airport Road Hawker Centre will be reopening on 1 Oct.
The good news was announced by Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan in a Facebook post last Wednesday.
From a photo of the exterior he shared, the building at 51 Old Airport Road has received a fresh, colourful coat of paint.
Source: Lim Biow Chuan on Facebook
Besides the exterior, repainting works have also been carried out in the common areas, Mr Lim shared.
The floor tiles in the first storey have been replaced with a more sleek look, according to artist’s impressions that he posted.
Other fixtures that were replaced include all indoor and outdoor tables and stools, as well as bird spikes and bird netting for indoor pigeon management.
There are a few new additions to look forward to.
To help diners beat the heat, 21 “high volume low speed” fans have been installed in the first storey, along the aisle of the walkway.
Source: Lim Biow Chuan on Facebook
Additional light fittings will also brighten the level, with a filtering system to freshen the air.
Existing facilities have been upgraded, too, including the toilets. Grease was also cleared from the common exhaust ducting.
Source: Lim Biow Chuan on Facebook
The National Environment Agency (NEA) had previously confirmed to MS News that Old Airport Road Hawker Centre would be closed from 1 June to 30 Sept.
Its repairs and redecoration works are being conducted by Marine Parade Town Council.
According to Mr Lim, the renovations are “progressing well” and the centre is on track to reopen on 1 Oct.
He hopes that the improvements “will make the dining experience at the hawker centre better for all the customers”.
Old Airport Road Hawker Centre is one of Singapore’s largest, with 168 food stalls, many of them well-known.
However, according to a Shin Min Daily News report in April less than two months before its closure, at least 10 stalls there were observed to be empty, with their signage removed.
A stallholder who spoke to the paper said that footfall at the hawker centre had been decreasing recently and even the crowd at night wasn’t as big as it used to be.
Others said that the upcoming four-month renovation may have affected business, though competition there was fierce, with several long-established names and newcomers coming and going.
Another said one of the empty stalls belonged to a bakery that decided to move to Serangoon partly due to the upcoming renovation.
Source: Google Maps
Newcomers interested in renting stalls in the centre would also avoid doing so because of the closure, they added.
But Mr Kelvin Khoo, president of the Old Airport Road Food Centre Merchants’ Association, said that as the hawker centre is the second-largest in Singapore, the number of empty stalls there would also appear to be larger.
Nevertheless, some stallholders have expressed hopes that business will improve after the renovation.
Also read: Old Airport Road Hawker Centre to be closed for 4-month renovation from June
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Featured image adapted from Lim Biow Chuan on Facebook.
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