Johore Road

Queen Street is well-known today as the gateway to Malaysia’s Johor Bahru thanks to the cross-border bus services that operate from the modest-looking bus terminal. An express bus would have taken one from Queen Street to Johor in under 45 minutes. However only two decades ago, one could have just walked across the road to Johore, or rather, Johore Road to be more accurate.

Until the early 1990s, there was a certain Johore Road that ran parallel to Queen Street and Victoria Street. It was expunged from the maps in the late 1990s, joining the likes of some memorable places and streets like Bukit Larangan, an early 19th century name for Fort Canning Hill; and Hock Lam Street, a street on the current site of Funan Centre.

Johore Road saw its heyday in the 1960s and the 1970s, a period in which it came to be known as a notorious red light district with transgender prostitutes soliciting for business in the shophouses and alleys. It was just a stone’s throw away from the then world-renowned Bugis Street, which was famous for its cabaret performances, transgender prostitutes and food stalls.

While Bugis Street was imprinted on postcards and attracted thousands of Western tourists and sailors, Johore Road was its less glamourous counterpart that only the locals knew.

Occupants of the rows of shophouses at Johore Road were a fascinating mix mostly made up of home temples, small family businesses, and illicit brothels. Street hawkers also lined the street on both sides.

Shops and residences at Johore Road were unfortunately plagued by frequent fires and minor floods from the overflowing open drains during downpours. The shophouses were eventually demolished, and after the brief occupancy of Victoria Street Wholesale Centre, a green field is all that remains of Johore Road today.

=See also=


 * Bugis Street

=References=


 * Johnny Chen, "A CERTAIN JOHORE ROAD IN SINGAPORE", "Ghetto Singapore" blog, 21 April 2014.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.