The lengendary Maggies Bar in Beijing has relocated and reopened at plush new premises at Ritan Park, in the cen­tre of Beijing's diplomatic quarter.

With the previous location scheduled for demolition due to Olympics construction work being carried out at the near-by Workers Stadium, and home to many a testosterone fueled evening over a ten year period, the real challenge facing the bar was it's ability to maintain the ambience of the original while improving some of the worn and torn surroundings. This has been achieved in spectacular style, with the entrance now being a grey brick archway into a traditional Chinese court­yard building sited just metres from where the Emperor in days gone by used to make sacrificial offerings to the Gods to guarantee a safe harvest.

With those sacrificial offerings now being in the form of shapely Mongolian, Kazak and Russian girls providing the eye candy, and the familiar strains of 1970's rock and pop provid­ing the soundtrack, just add a few hundred thirsty expatriates and the place is jumping by midnight.

The pool table, long a place for the entirely non-pc ogling of buxom Asian girls bending over the table in low cut dresses, is back in situ, as is the dancefloor and a huge bar.

Yes, Maggies is back, as raunchy, and as non politically correct as ever, and still proudly holding onto it's reputation as the de­facto Mongolian Embassy - a refuge from the cold Mongolian winters and adding a warmth to every hardened expatriates cockles.

CE