Empty bars, high prices and early nights: Singapore’s dying nightlife could have wider repercussions

Mr Seva Baskin from eastern European country Belarus left his rented apartment in Singapore at midnight on a Friday, sometime in early November. He was intending to check out a bar, only to realise that all MRT train services for the day had already ended.

“(That timing) is quite early for European standards. Usually, when I go out in Europe, public transport works late. And in Singapore, as soon as the clock strikes 12, taxi prices double from what it was in the daytime,” the 31-year-old founder of a real estate technology startup said.

Mr Baskin, who recently spent three months in Singapore while working remotely, wanted to immerse himself in local culture. He thought that bars would be good places to mingle with…