09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
When the place to be seen in Hong Kong was Canton Disco, and how the nightclub lives on
On March 30, 1985, Hong Kong nightclub Canton Disco opened its doors to party-goers.
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The atmosphere was buzzing: 11,000 people turned up to the 1,500-capacity club in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, where the dress code was whatever you wanted it to be. Some wore Speedos with tuxedo jackets to fit the Midnight Swim theme.
Canton Disco co-founder
Andrew Bull – known as Hong Kong's 'King Of Disco' – was tasked with launching the event. In the 1970s he had been a DJ at The Scene nightclub in The Peninsula hotel, and later DJ'd at Taipan Club and Disco Disco, also in Hong Kong.
If anyone knew how to put on a show, it was Bull.
Andrew and Sally Bull (second and third from left) at the opening of Canton Disco. While the dress code was whatever you wanted it to be, some wore Speedos paired with tuxedo jackets to fit the Midnight Swim theme. Photo: Andrew Bull
'Drag queen Divine was host at the grand opening, and all the city's movers and shakers were there,' recalls the Briton, who still spins as DJ El Toro in his late sixties.
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To promote its launch, Bull took out a Chinese advertisement in The Face, a trendy London magazine that redefined youth culture around the world. It was like tapping into today's social media influencers, he says.
