Entrance of the Foreign Correspondents' Club
The Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) was founded in Chongqing in 1943 and moved to Hong Kong (from Shanghai) in 1949. It is a club for the media, business and diplomatic community. It is located at 2 Lower Albert Road in Central, next to the Hong Kong Fringe Club.
The FCC is a members-only club with the following membership categories:
- Correspondent
- Journalist
- Associate (in this category anyone can join, although there has at times been a waiting list of several months)
- International media-related corporate
- Diplomatic
The heart of the FCC is The Main Bar (on the ground floor) which maintains its reputation for colourful characters both from the media and other professions. The FCC has two restaurants on the first floor: the Main Dining Room focussed primarily on western-style cuisine, and the Chinese Restaurant.
In the basement is Bert's Bar, named after the late Bert Okuley, long time FCC member and jazz pianist. Bert's features live jazz several nights each week, often with the house band under the leadership of Musical Director Allen Youngblood. The pool table in Bert's also hosts annual 8-ball and 9-ball tournaments and is the home table of teams playing in local leagues of both codes.
The basement also contains The Work Room where local and visiting members can use the broadband-connected facilities to prepare their articles, and a small but well-equipped Health Club with sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi.
The membership of the FCC (which totals over 1800) includes reporters, photographers and radio and television teams, the Chief Executive of the SAR and leading figures in the worlds of business and diplomacy.
When prominent international figures from the worlds of commerce, politics or entertainment visit Hong Kong, many choose to address the FCC's speaker lunches as the best means of reaching their desired audience - both directly and through media coverage of the events. Recent speakers include the Chief Executive (Sir Donald Tsang), former Chief Secretary Mrs Anson Chan and last Governor of Hong Kong, (Lord Christopher Patten).
Located in the original Ice House at the top of Ice House Street the Club occupies one of the few remaining colonial buildings in core Central.
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