Pottinger Street: Central Travel Guide

A staircase built for a hill

Pottinger Street is mostly steps. From Queen’s Road Central it rises toward Hollywood Road in shallow, uneven tiers of granite slabs. Cantonese speakers call it Shek Pan Gai, “stone slab street”, and that name tells you more than any sign does.

The slabs are laid with raised edges and gaps on purpose. They give your feet some grip on the slope and send rainwater running downhill. They are also why the street has never become a road for cars, and why it feels slower than the office towers a block away.

Who Pottinger was, and why the street is still here

The street is named after Sir Henry Pottinger, the first Governor of Hong Kong. It dates from the colony’s earliest decades, when this slope between the harbour and the hill was the town. Many Central lanes from that period were widened, paved over or flattened. Pottinger Street kept its stones.

Today it is classed as a historical landmark, and it reads like one. Glass towers stand at the bottom on Des Voeux Road Central. Older walk-ups and tenement frontages sit in the middle stretch. Antique shops and galleries line Hollywood Road at the top. Walk it once from bottom to top and you cover a cross-section of the city’s growth.

Costume season on the slabs

The stalls are what make the street feel alive. Narrow metal kiosks press up against the walls on both sides and sell things you rarely find together:

• costumes, wigs and masks
• party props, banners and seasonal decorations
• hair accessories, ribbons and costume jewellery
• buttons, zips, trims and other haberdashery

Stock follows the calendar. Halloween and Christmas are when the costume racks take over and office workers come up from Queen’s Road at lunch. Chinese New Year brings red and gold. In quieter months the mix leans toward sewing supplies and everyday accessories. Stall hours aren’t published, so go in the daytime if you plan to shop. Most kiosks are shuttered after dark, but the steps themselves never close.

Getting onto the stones

The easiest start is MTR Central Station, Exit D2, which comes out on Queen’s Road Central. Walk west a few minutes and the slabs begin on your left, climbing uphill. The Des Voeux Road Central tram also stops close to the lower end, and you may find that start more fun.

Climb upward rather than down. The bottom-to-top route matches the street’s history, and it is much easier on wet stone. Allow 30 to 45 minutes if you browse the stalls. Make it a couple of hours if you add the side streets below.

What branches off

The cross streets are worth as much time as the street itself:

• Wellington Street: old-style noodle and congee shops close to the lower half.
• Lyndhurst Terrace and Gage Street: Gage Street’s wet market and Lan Fong Yuen, known for Hong Kong milk tea, are a short walk west.
• Central-Mid-Levels Escalator: runs a block or two west, a quick way to carry on uphill.
• Hollywood Road: at the top. Head east toward Tai Kwun, the former Central Police Station compound, or west toward Man Mo Temple, passing the antique dealers.
• PMQ: the former Police Married Quarters on Aberdeen Street, now design studios, a few minutes west of the top.
• Lan Kwai Fong: the bar district, just east of the upper section, if you finish in the evening.

Browsing the kiosks without blocking the stairs

The stalls are tight and the steps are busy, so a little street manners helps. Step to the side of the slabs before you stop to look. The middle of the staircase is how delivery workers and office staff get up and down the hill. Bags are best worn in front rather than swinging behind you.

Many kiosks are small cash businesses, so carry some Hong Kong dollars. Some take an Octopus card, but don’t count on it. Prices are often marked on the goods. If they aren’t, just ask. Polite questions work better than hard haggling here. Get permission before photographing a stall owner, though shooting the slope itself is fine.

If you’re buying a costume for a particular night, shop well ahead of Halloween. Popular sizes run out at the stalls, as they do anywhere.

Timing the climb

This is a street that seldom appears on a tourist’s first list, and you can see that from how few reviews it has next to Central’s big sights. Even in the shopping seasons it doesn’t feel like a queue. You can still have the upper steps nearly to yourself.

Daylight on a weekday shows the stalls at their fullest. In the evening the kiosks close up and the street lamps light the old stone, a good time for photographs on the way to Lan Kwai Fong. After rain, take care: the granite gets slick, so soft-soled shoes that grip are worth wearing. In a Hong Kong summer, climb in the morning and save your energy for Hollywood Road at the top.