At The Champagnery in Singapore, champagne is poured without ceremony, music is curated not blasted, and 4am feels less like excess and more like intention.
In a city long defined by its gleaming rooftop bars and high-octane mega-clubs, a quieter recalibration is taking place behind an unassuming façade along Amoy Street. The Champagnery — Singapore’s only champagne-forward speakeasy lounge — is staking its claim not through spectacle, but through nuance.
Since opening in November 2025, the venue has extended its operating hours to 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, placing it among the few non-club spaces in the city licensed to carry the night into the early morning. Yet to characterise it as a rebellion against regulation would be to misunderstand its intent.
“The Champagnery saw a clear white space between high-energy mega-clubs and formal hotel bars,” says general manager Benedict John Gerard. “There was demand for a place that feels celebratory but not intimidating. Somewhere guests can enjoy great champagne, good music and conversation, and stay late without the pressure of a dance-floor, big-room or bottle-service culture.”
The distinction is subtle but significant. In Singapore, where nightlife is tightly regulated and carefully zoned, longevity depends less on volume than on vision.
“Champagne felt like the most natural focus because it’s often misunderstood as purely celebratory. In reality, it’s one of the most versatile and expressive wines in the world. It can be cerebral or playful, austere or indulgent” — Benedict John Gerard
“The ‘non-club, 4AM’ model is viable in Singapore precisely because the city’s regulations favour well-run, premium, experience-led venues over volume-driven nightlife,” Gerard explains. Rather than pushing against the framework, he suggests, The Champagnery aligns with it, contributing to what he calls a “more diverse, mature nightlife ecosystem”.
CHAMPAGNE, REFRAMED
The decision to build the concept around champagne was both aesthetic and philosophical. In Singapore, as elsewhere, champagne is often tethered to occasion: birthdays, promotions, the theatre of bottle service. At The Champagnery, it is something more instinctive.
“Champagne felt like the most natural focus because it’s often misunderstood as purely celebratory,” Gerard says. “In reality, it’s one of the most versatile and expressive wines in the world. It can be cerebral or playful, austere or indulgent.”
The list is structured to reflect that range. Guests can drop in midweek for a single glass, settle into a well-priced bottle, or escalate to vintages and magnums should the mood require it. There are champagne cocktails for those who prefer their bubbles reinterpreted, alongside spirit-forward options that broaden the bar’s appeal beyond purists.
“The way we’ve priced the bottles and provided options beyond just champagne allows the space to be inferred as more than a champagne-only venue,” Gerard notes. Accessibility, here, is not code for dilution. It is a deliberate reframing of luxury, less about status, more about pleasure and craft.
“In Singapore especially, champagne is usually reserved for special occasions or bottle-service moments,” he continues. “We wanted to reframe it as something you could enjoy more intimately by the glass, paired with moreish focaccias, without ceremony. It’s less about luxury as status, and more about luxury as pleasure, craftsmanship and discovery.”
In an inflation-sensitive market, such positioning is not without risk. Champagne still carries connotations of premium pricing. But Gerard is pragmatic.
“Exactly because of rising costs and more conscious consumer behaviours, we wanted The Champagnery to be an exclave for the heydays of nightlife, and keeping the menu relatable was a huge part of the idea.”
Repeat business, he suggests, is proof of concept. Since opening, the bar has “quickly amassed a regular clientele who come for post-work drinks or after-dinner partying”. They return, he says, “for the vibes, the interior and the fact that there’s a space that’s not a big-room or tourist-packed venue but more intimate and intentional in its offering”.
SOUND AND SUSTENANCE
If champagne provides the thread, music shapes the tempo. Early in the evening, lounge tracks hover lightly over conversation. As the hours slip by, DJ-led sets take over, moving from house to open format without tipping into bombast. The aim is not to manufacture a dance floor, but to allow the room to evolve organically.
“At The Champagnery, music is an integral part of the business,” Gerard says simply. It is another tool of curation — one that determines not just how long guests stay, but how they feel while doing so.
Food, too, plays a strategic role. In collaboration with Mamma Mia Focaccia — the successful daytime concept that fronts the speakeasy — The Champagnery has made focaccia its core bar offering. Served until 9.30pm, the sweet and savoury variations replace the predictable triumvirate of nuggets, fries and oysters.
“Yes, making focaccia from Mamma Mia Focaccia a core offering was intentional,” Gerard admits. “It naturally encourages guests to stay longer, share and explore more of the menu, which enhances both the experience and spend per visit.”
The collaboration began as a pop-up experiment, leveraging the bakery’s existing following. The response, he says, “went beyond what we had expected”. There is something quietly disarming about pairing a premium interior with loaded focaccia sandwiches — a juxtaposition that feels at once democratic and indulgent.
“Amazingly, focaccia and champagne just works,” Gerard adds. “When the pairing feels intentional rather than opportunistic, the upsell becomes experiential and, in today’s market, guests perceive value rather than price escalation.”
More broadly, he sees this as indicative of where Singapore’s nightlife is heading: towards venues that blend strong drinks with thoughtful food, creating a complete social experience rather than a single-note night out.
