Holland Village, often abbreviated as Holland V, is a neighbourhood located along the boundary between the planning areas of Bukit Timah and Queenstown in the Central Region of Singapore. Holland Village is a popular shopping and dining destination for younger Singaporeans and expatriates. It is dominated by and often visited solely for its eateries and watering holes, along with some specialist shops. The area is served by its own MRT station, which opened in 2011.
Etymology
Holland Village was named after Holland Road, which in turn was named after Hugh Holland in 1907; Holland, an architect and amateur actor, was an early resident of the area. The roads 'Holland Avenue', 'Holland Close' and 'Holland Drive' were officially named after the principal road in 1972. Holland Road is known as hue hng au in Hokkien, meaning "behind the flower garden". The "flower garden" refers to the Botanic Gardens.
Neighborhoods within the Holland Village area
Several areas are considered to be in the Holland Village area.
Holland Village proper
Holland Village is a crescent-shaped area of shophouses and small malls set around Lorong Liput and Lorong Mambong, surrounded by Holland Road and Holland Avenue.
Chip Bee Gardens
On the other side of Holland Avenue is a neighbourhood that was formerly developed as British military housing in the 1950s, but is now owned by the Singapore government and rented to private individuals and, on Jalan Merah Saga, businesses. Chip Bee Gardens has a reputation for being an enclave of Western expatriates, although many Singaporeans and other Asians reside there too.
Holland Close
Holland Close is a large HDB estate located at the southern part of Chip Bee Gardens. Shuang Long Shan, also known as the Holland Close Cemetery, is a cemetery for the Hakka community since the 1960s.
Many food chains in Singapore, such as Crystal Jade, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Sushi Tei, Subway, and Häagen-Dazs, are in Holland Village. A 24-hour kopitiam, a market and a food court are also present with food stalls selling local and western dishes. Other eating places include Starbucks and several dessert, Western cuisine and Japanese cuisine outlets. The gentrification of the Holland V area is characterised by the more up-market dining options such as the ethnic restaurants as well as franchises such as Tapas Bar. Other prominent bars include Tango's, Baden and Harry's Bar. However, Wala Wala remains the grand dame of the bars along the Lorong Mambong stretch. This two-storey stalwart packs a crowd that ranges from students to yuppies with its laid back atmosphere and nightly live music. Holland Village has a reputation as an expatriate neighbourhood but nevertheless attracts a majority of locals to its pubs and restaurants. The Village has been a cradle for a number of lifestyle trends in Singapore. In the 1980s, Palm's Wine Bar along Lorong Mambong started the trend for wine bars. During that period, other cafes like Batter Batter and Milano Pizza also sprang up in Holland V. In the 90s the restaurant Original Sin started a wave of upscale vegetarian dining when its Australian-Italian owner introduced Singapore to her first Mediterranean vegetarian dining experience in Chip Bee Gardens. Original Sin's menu was created by co-owner and culinary director, Marisa Bertocchi. From Adelaide in Australia, Marisa worked in many of that city's restaurants and hotels before heading to Singapore where she quickly earned praise for her vegetarian creations at Michelangelo's. Coffee Club, Singapore's first gourmet coffee shop, opened its first outlet in Holland Village in 1991. This was before the arrival of Starbucks, Coffee Bean and TCC years later, while Wala Wala asserted its presence among the rest with a customer base as wide as its range of imported beers and its nightly band performances. Today, the rows of shops along Lorong Mambong and Jalan Merah Saga house some of Singapore's most famous and characteristic pubs and restaurants, many of which are fully booked during weekends. When Singapore entered phase 2 of reopening after the circuit breaker during the coronavirus outbreak, several enforcement actions were taken after overcrowding on 19 June 2020:
The Urban Redevelopment Authority ordered a restaurant, British Indian Curry Hut, to close immediately. It would only be allowed to provide takeaway service for a week, and then would be allowed to reopen for dining in 29 June.
URA also announced that Lorong Mambong, where most of the restaurants were located would reopen to traffic to prevent people gathering on the streets.
5 people were fined for violating safe distancing rules, with investigations still ongoing for other possible breaches.
Shops and services
Holland Village has a variety of commercial amenities. There are three shopping centres in Holland Village: Raffles Holland V, Holland Road Shopping Centre and Holland V Shopping Mall. Retail establishments are located along four streets and two shopping buildings. These streets are Jalan Merah Saga, Holland Avenue, Lorong Liput and Lorong Mambong. The shopping buildings are Holland Road Shopping Centre, which is along Holland Avenue, and Holland V Shopping Mall, along Lorong Liput. These two buildings are often casually referred to by sales assistants as Holland Village Shopping Centre, which is a non-existent building.
In 2003, the neighbourhood of Holland Village was featured and filmed in a TV series by Mediacorp. The series titled Holland V was broadcast on Mediacorp Channel 8 and it broke records for garnering the most acting nominations awarded to a cast in a single year, and for becoming the first show to win all four acting categories at the Star Awards.
On 7 July 2016, a robbery took place at the Standard Chartered Bank branch in Holland Village. Unarmed, a male Caucasian entered the bank at 11.25am and handed a paper slip to a female bank teller. Minutes later, he left with about $30,000 in cash on foot.The suspect was later arrested in Bangkok.
