Old Bailey Street

Old Bailey Street runs downhill from Caine Road in the south to Hollywood Road in the north. Along the way, it has junctions with Chancery Lane ({{zh|t=贊善里|labels=no}}) and Staunton Street.

Victoria Gaol (later Victoria Prison), the first prison in Hong Kong, was built in 1841. As the population in Hong Kong grew, a larger prison was needed and in 1925 construction began in Stanley. Later that year, a new prison opened as Stanley Prison where those sentenced to more than a year in detention were sent.

Old Bailey Street was built after the completion of the Victoria Gaol. It connected Hollywood Road right to the entrance of the prison. The road used to be called "the long slope" by locals. One possible reason is that after serving their prison term, the inmates emerged from the gate at Old Bailey Street and led new lives, hence "the long slope".{{cite web |url=http://www.hkmemory.org/central-police/text/street-q1-eng.php |title=Streets around the CPS Compound>Old Bailey Street |last= |first= |date= |website=Hong Kong Memory Website |publisher=Leisure and Cultural Services Department |access-date= |quote=}}

During the early colonisation of Hong Kong, prisoners in Victoria Prison were forced to parade in public, were often beaten with a cane, and their arms locked with a cangue on which their name and crimes-committed were penned. Policemen, often of Indian descent, would walk the prisoners to a plaza in front of the Man Mo Temple where the lawbreakers were scoffed and condemned by the passers-by. After a few hours, the criminal was returned to the Old Bailey Street jail. This form of punishment was abolished after World War I.

The Government Central School for Girls (later named Belilios Public School) was founded in 1890. Located at No. 16 Hollywood Road, which was then on the corner of Old Bailey Street and Hollywood Road, the school aimed to give 'an ordinary middle-class English education' to the daughters of Chinese, European and Indian residents of Hong Kong.{{cite book |title= Education in Hong Kong, Pre-1841 to 1941: Fact and Opinion|last= Sweeting|first= A.E.|authorlink= |year= 1990|publisher= Hong Kong University Press|location= |isbn= 9789622092587|page=214 |url= |accessdate=}}

In the afternoon of 15 December 1941, during the Battle of Hong Kong, a stick Japanese bombs hit the junction of Old Bailey Street and Caine Road, the junction of Pottinger Street and Hollywood Road, Wellington Street and the Central Police Station.{{cite book |title= Not the slightest chance: the defence of Hong Kong, 1941|last= Banham|first= Tony|authorlink=Tony Banham |year= 2004|publisher=University of British Columbia Press |location= |isbn= 978-0774810456|page=80 |pages= |url= |accessdate=}} The bombing was part of a systematic bombardment of the Hong Kong Island's north shore that was launched on that day.{{cite web|first=Klemen |last=L. |url=https://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/december3.html |title=Chronology of the Dutch East Indies, 12 December 1941 – 18 December 1941 |date=1999–2000 |work=Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942}}

The Nanhua Ribao ({{zh|t=南華日報|labels=no}}) reported on July 20, 1942 that a handcart had slipped downward along the steep Old Bailey Street the day before, and had bumped into a rickshaw, injuring the puller.{{cite book |title= Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874-1954|last= Fung|first= Chi Ming|authorlink= |year= 2005|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|series= Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong studies series|location= |isbn= 9789622097346|page=140 |url= |accessdate=}}

In the mid-1990s the character of Old Bailey Street began to change, as new bars and restaurants moved onto the street in concert with the emergence of the SoHo entertainment district.{{cite news |last1=Wordie |first1=Jason |title=detours |work=Post Magazine |date=18 March 2001 |page=36 |via=Proquest Historic Newspapers |quote=Considered for decades as just another Central backstreet, Old Bailey Street enjoyed a renaissance in the mid-1990s, along with other dingy backstreets nearby. Now included in the burgeoning SoHo scene, the street is home to colourful bars and restaurants as well as a few often-overlooked reminders of Hong Kong's past, such as the prison.}}

Comparatively high rents for commercial space{{cite news |last=Connolly |first=Norma |date=29 October 2005 |title=Galloping rents doom another eatery |url= |work=South China Morning Post |location= |access-date=}} and very high property prices against worldwide benchmarks{{cite news |last=Lam |first=Lana |date=1 March 2015 |title=Can't afford a place in Hong Kong? Here's what HK$7 million will buy you abroad |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1726553/hongkongers-have-seven-million-reasons-buy-home-abroad |work=South China Morning Post |location= |access-date=}} have been reported in the 2000s and 2010s in Old Bailey Street.

The old Victoria Prison still stands on Old Bailey Street, but is no longer in use. It was closed in December 2005 and the Hong Kong Government, after a consultation period, has converted both the Prison, the old Central Police Station (which is at the intersection of Old Bailey Street and Hollywood Road) and the Former Central Magistracy into the Tai Kwun centre, which opened to the public on 29 May 2018.

The Old Bailey Street Police Married Quarters, at 17A Old Bailey Street, was completed in 1986. It includes one 24-storey block with six flats on each floor.{{cite news |title=Flats cheer for junior policemen |work=South China Morning Post |date=21 March 1986 |page=25}} The compound has been fortified with razor wire since the 2019–20 pro-democracy protests.

No. 20 Hollywood Road is a building located at the corner of Hollywood Road and Old Bailey Street. The lease on this landed property commenced in 1844, making it one of the earliest lots to be sold in Hong Kong. The current building was built in 1953. It is a four-storey building with Art Deco influences, that has been used for commercial use over the years.Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal. [http://www.aab.gov.hk/historicbuilding/en/791_Appraisal_En.pdf No. 20 Hollywood Road, Central, H.K.] It is listed as a Grade III historic building.Antiquities Advisory Board. [http://www.aab.gov.hk/form/AAB-SM-chi.pdf List of the 1,444 Historic Buildings with Assessment Results]

Due to the steepness of the slope of the street, the sidewalks on both side feature a total of 74 stairs.{{cite web |url=https://stairculture.com/archive/stair/old-bailey-street |title=Stairs of Old Bailey Street - Hollywood Road to Caine Road |last= |first= |date= |website=Hong Kong Stair Archive |publisher=Stair Culture |access-date= |quote=}}

• List of streets and roads in Hong Kong

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Old Bailey Street, Hong Kong}}

• [https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=22.280524,114.15296&daddr=%E6%97%AD%E9%BE%A2%E9%81%93+%4022.282040,+114.153870&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=18&mra=dme&sll=22.280752,114.153281&sspn=0.002035,0.003648&ie=UTF8&ll=22.281318,114.153464&spn=0.002035,0.003648&z=18&om=1 Google Maps of Old Bailey Street]
• [https://gwulo.com/atom/16784 1862 View up Old Bailey Street] at gwulo.com

{{Central, Hong Kong}}

{{HKislandroads}}

{{Coord|22|16|52.49|N|114|09|12.51|E|display=title|region:HK}}

Category:Central, Hong Kong

Category:Roads on Hong Kong Island