For restaurant and shop owners
Can this shop become your restaurant?
The costliest mistake in Hong Kong F&B is a lease signed on premises that can't get the licence. A licensing consultant charges HK$18,000–32,000 per restaurant application. The question before that is free: which licences are on record at this address now, what the planning history says, and whether the building has orders against it.
What the map checks for you
Licences at the address
17,259 restaurants
Restaurant, light-refreshment, food-factory and liquor licences on record at the address — with the names of the shops holding them.
Show on the mapPlanning precedents
27,198 applications
Town Planning Board applications on and around the site — including 'Eating Place' and 'Shop and Services' — with the decision.
Show on the mapBuilding orders
6,540 bldgs on record
Unauthorised-works and dangerous-building orders on record — the kind of thing a licensing officer will ask about.
Show on the mapWho's around
1,746 areas
Median household income and population by neighbourhood, from the 2021 Census — your catchment, in numbers.
Show on the mapFoot-traffic proxies
629 MTR exits
MTR exits and pedestrian streets nearby. Hong Kong publishes no footfall counts — these are proxies, and we label them as proxies.
Show on the mapWhat opens and closes
~300 / month
We have saved FEHD's licence lists every day since 31 August 2026. Around 300 new addresses join the restaurant-licence list each month.
A real example: Garley Building, 52A Peel Street, SoHo
A 1980s block in Central's restaurant quarter. This is what the government records show at the address.
- Licences at this address (FEHD)
- 10 restaurant · 11 liquor · 2 food factory
- Planning applications on the site
- 1 — latest: Y/H3/3 rezoning request, not approved 2009
- Buildings Department records
- mandatory building inspection notice · mandatory window inspection notice
- Owners' corporation
- None found in the Land Registry index
- Lifts (EMSD permits)
- 2
- Age
- 41 years
- Median household income in the area
- HK$47,630/month
133 of 1,044 buildings within 300 m also have Buildings Department orders on record.
- Several restaurant licences at one address is strong evidence that premises in this building can be licensed — FEHD only licenses premises that satisfy the lease, the occupation permit and the zoning. It is still not a guarantee for a particular unit.
- The planning record here is a 2009 request to rezone the Peel Street / Graham Street area, which the Town Planning Board did not agree to. Planning history is part of what a landlord won't mention.
Source: Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Restaurant licences · Food licences (daily) · Town Planning Board Planning Applications Considered by the Town Planning Board (quarterly) · Buildings Department Statutory Orders issued on unauthorised building works of the buildings (monthly) · Buildings Department Statutory Orders issued on dangerous buildings (monthly) · Census and Statistics Department 2021 Population Census — Small Tertiary Planning Unit statistics (every 10 years) · Land Registry Index of Owners' Corporations (OC) (monthly) · Electrical and Mechanical Services Department Statutory Orders and Notices under the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance (daily) · retrieved by KongInsight 16 Sep 2026
What the map won't tell you — and where to look
Restrictions in the deed of mutual covenant
Some DMCs forbid restaurants. It's a registered document — order a copy from the Land Registry.
Staircases, exhaust, floor loading
These are on the approved building plans — viewable at the Buildings Department's BRAVO for HK$36.
Real footfall
No government counts exist. Stand outside at lunchtime and count.
The landlord's terms
Use, hours and fit-out periods are in the lease — negotiate them before signing.
Check the shop before the lease
Search the address, tap the building, see what's licensed there and what's around.