Southbridge
A fully alfresco Boat Quay rooftop bar with 360-degree city and river views.
Southbridge is a fully alfresco rooftop bar on level 5 of a refurbished heritage shophouse at Boat Quay. Its official site describes 360-degree views spanning Parliament House, Marina Bay Sands and Raffles Place, with a chic but unpretentious bar-dining atmosphere. The entrance is from South Bridge Road along Elgin Bridge, and the venue opens daily from 5pm till midnight with a 21-and-above age policy. It is lower-rise than the skyscraper rooftops in this list, but the riverfront position gives it a distinctive, close-to-the-city charm.
Southbridge is proof that a rooftop bar does not need to be 50 floors up to have a memorable view. The Boat Quay perch gives you the river, civic district and CBD in a more intimate frame, and the fully alfresco setup makes it feel properly open-air. It is best for oysters, bubbles and easygoing evening drinks. The trade-off is exposure to weather and a smaller, less glossy setup than the hotel rooftops.
It earns its place as a lower-rise independent with real rooftop character, a central riverfront setting and one of the more relaxed alfresco experiences in town.