Beach Street, Penang(1)海墘路

This is an old clock tower at the round about, there is also a steel sculpture of nutmug nearby .



This heritage building is located at the side road


Custome Department



Another heritage building at the side road



This row of heritage buildings are located at Beach Street



Look at the heritage buildings, the colonial buildings are beautiful; you will understand why Penang is declared as heritage city by UNESCO



Some of the heritage buildings are under renovation



One of the money changer in Beach Street


Not only financial institutions, this small stall at the side road is also doing good business.

Beach Street海墘路
Beach Street is the first 4 streets mapped out by the city fathers in Georgetown, namely Beach Street, Light Street, Pitt Street(now Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling), & Chulia Street.

Beach Street is between Light Street round about, the clock tower to the Jalan Dr Lim Chwee Leong. For the local Chinese, it is divided into 6 parts, namely:-

(1) North of China Street- 土庫街 Tho-kho-ke(which means warehouse street), Jalan Gedung (in Malay which means street of godown)
(2) China Street to Chulia Street- 港仔口, Kang-a-khau(which means harbour entrance,where main shipping business is carried out.
(3) Chulia Street to Armenian Street-中街, Tiong-ke(middle street)
(4) Armenian Street to Acheen Street- 緞羅申,Toan-lo-sin(which means Tuan Losin, or Tengku Syed Hussein Street.
(5)Acheen Street to Malay Street- 打铁街, Phah-Ti-ke( which means Blacksmith street)
(6) Malay Street to Jalan Lim Chwee Leong(South of Malay Street)-社尾, Sia-bui(which means end of the beach), Ujong Pasir.

Beach street is in the heart of Georgetown, a financial district. It is also used to be commercial hub with European office and retail & wholesale stores.

North Beach Street(1)- Between Light Street and Chulia Street 海墘路

The upper or north Beach street is located at the financial hub of Penang. There are many banks, domestic as well as foreign bank. In addition to that there are many money changers along the street. At the end of the street is a round about with a clock tower built in pre war days. This end lead to Light Street and Esplanade on the left, and on the right. The immigration office is located at the left corner of the street leading to Light Street. On the right the immigration station is a police station and the next building is Standard Chartered Bank, which is a heritage building. Opposite the Standard Chartered Bank is the Malay Chamber of Commerce/Muslim Religious Council building, after crossing the side road toward the main post office, the corner heritage buidling is the RBS Gallery(9, Beach Street) owned by RBS(formerly ABN-AMBRO Bank). The Hongkong Bank followed. You cross another side road, there was the Ban Hin Lee Bank(penang owned bank), merged with Southern Bank, and now owned by CIMB. OCBC bank is at the centre of the street.

At the left side of the street, there used to be a bus station for City Council bus.

At the other end it a traffic light junction of Chulia Street, where an old fire station is located.
The famous Ghee Hiang biscuit is also located at the street toward Chulia Street; in the old days you need to book in advance to purchase the biscuits. But due to more new biscuit shops opened, there is keen competition in the business segment. The shop forced to change their strategy , and opened retail outlets at the Burma Road and Macalister Road, near Anson Road junction.

This part of beach street is 土庫街 Tho-kho-ke for local Chinese. Other parts will be follow soon.