Owners of a Hong Kong pro-democracy cafe, who had complained of weekly government inspections which scared customers away, have been fined a total of HK$3,500 for stains in its washroom.
Not One Less Coffee has announced it will shut down because of a slump in business and the frequent visits by various different departments. InMedia reported that the cafe sometimes received dozens of fines a month.
Eastern Magistrates’ Courts fined the cafe over two hygiene offences on Wednesday, Ming Pao reported. According to the first summons, authorities found a grey stain of around six square metres on the ceiling of the men’s restroom last September.
The second summons related to a permanent black stain inside the toilet bowl of the men’s restroom found last October.
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) charged the cafe with two offences – “unhygienic conditions in the food premises” and “unclean and improperly maintained sanitary facilities.”
The cafe manager pleaded guilty but said staff had been working hard to keep the premises clean and took immediate action once they found the stains.
Owners of the shop said last December on Facebook that revenue had dropped around 80 per cent last year even after Hong Kong dropped Covid controls in early 2023.
The cafe “was visited by various government departments every week, ” including the FEHD, the Fire Services Department, the Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department, the Inland Revenue Department, the Police Force, the Labour Department and the Building Department, the owners said.
“Many clients were too terrified to come in when they saw government personnel… [We] received penalty tickets every month… and were fined frequently, ” the post added.
The owners announced on February 3 that the cafe would shut down at the end of this month. Opened in 2020, it identified as a “yellow” business, which supported the 2019 protests and unrest and the city’s pro-democracy movement.
‘High pressure’ law enforcement
Other “yellow” businesses in the city have complained of excessive government inspections.
But Ngan Lung Cafe, a cha chaan teng which supported the police during the 2019 protests, said on Weibo last April that the cafe was frequently visited by FEHD personnel.
“In four years [after the protests], things have returned to peace and business was really slow.. The only one that still remembers us is… FEHD,” the post read.
Paul Tse, a pro-establishment lawmaker, said in the Legislative Council in late January that authorities were conducting “high-pressure and high-profile” law enforcement actions which left people “stressed, burdened and despondent.”
“I am not sure whether [these enforcement efforts] are due to the treasury’s limited revenue. Law enforcement officers have issued fixed penalty parking tickets day and night, imposed heavy penalties on those who obstruct the streets, and plainclothes police lurk to catch jaywalkers,” Tse said.
He said various government departments had also employed different ways to punish bookstores and small canteens in industrial buildings.
The remarks prompted a sharp response from the city’s leader John Lee, who called Tse’s words “dangerous.” Lee said it reminded him of the language used by the opposition during the 2019 protests and of “soft resistance.”
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