Crown Wine Cellars

Crown Wine Cellars was formerly the Central Ordnance Munitions Depot (also known as ‘Little Hong Kong’ during wartime). It was built in the late 1930s by the British Royal Engineers to store arms and ammunition for the defence of Hong Kong. Little Hong Kong was the last allied position to fall to the invading Japanese forces, two days after the surrender of Hong Kong. The site was occupied by the Japanese army until Hong Kong‘s liberation in August 1945. It was then returned to the British Army. From the 1970s, it served as a police driving school of the then Royal Hong Kong Police Force and later as a storage for rock core samples. As one of the first public-private restoration projects undertaken in Hong Kong, it was restored and revitalised in 2004 into Asia's first professional wine cellar and clubhouse, winning the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation Award of Merit in 2007.

Address: 18 Deep Water Bay Drive, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong

Photos courtesy of Crown Wine Cellars