Songdo's Cinder Bar witnesses birth of a city

Warren Kidd, left, and the staff of The Cinder Bar in Incheon's Songdo International City, May 22. / Courtesy of The Cinder Bar

By Jon Dunbar

Warren Kidd runs a bar in a city so new, it isn't even old enough to drink.

Songdo International City is said to have officially "opened" in 2009, and The Cinder Bar opened there in early 2013. Kidd took it over from its first owner, a fellow New Zealander, in December 2014.

"At that time, Songdo was dead ― really dead," Kidd told The Korea Times. "I joke that back then, you could pick a lane on that eight-lane main street, lie down for half an hour, and you probably wouldn't have died."

Songdo was envisioned as a futuristic megacity on reclaimed land off Incheon's coast. It wasn't like other Korean cities that can trace their history back centuries ― nothing had been here before, just tidal flats and seawater. All of Songdo was new, from the streets and buildings to the people that slowly started to populate it and the community they built. For years, the ambitious city project was seen prematurely as a failure, even called a "dystopia" resembling a ghost town with its empty roads and low occupancy rate.

But Kidd, who has been an Incheon resident since 2001, saw opportunity in Songdo, the chance to build a niche in a new urban, global community that would certainly grow.

"Why, you ask?" Kidd said. "In a nutshell, I got given the opportunity, thought it could work, proposed the idea to the wife, got declined a number of times, finally after one last crack, she asked, 'Well, do you think you can do it?', replied, 'Of course!' But in my mind I was like, 'How hard could it be?' (famous last words). And we signed the contract! After two days of observation, I was the new owner of The Cinder Bar in Songdo!"

The bar is built right into the base of one of the city's many impersonal office towers, in an otherwise quiet corner of the city.

"I cannot lie," Kidd admitted, "it's not easy running a bar with a bunch of families living above you. At first, it was a bit of a tug of war with noise infractions, but I soon learned how to navigate safely through the night. I personally don't believe that being an expat and having other expats particularly bothered them so much. I actually think it might have piqued people's interests more!"

Entering the bar transports one to another world. The interior is textured differently from the surrounding city, with bricks, a blackboard over the bar showing the drinks menu and characterful reclaimed wood everywhere. The bar also has been known to host live music performances, at least before the pandemic, enhancing the atmosphere even more. The bar feels more like it could be in any small town anywhere in the world.

"The vibe is everything at Cinder," Kidd said. "But the largest piece of the vibe pie, in our opinion, comes from the people who work for you. Your staff set the tone from that very first interaction right through to the moment you gratefully say goodbye to each and every guest. Selim, Otash, Amir and Diyor are the current Cinder crew, and these guys have Cinder Gold seriously racing through their veins."

Kidd displayed a fierce loyalty to his staff, singing their praises multiple times throughout the interview. His employees over the years have come from all over Korea, as well as far-flung cities around the world, such as Rotterdam, Mapua and Kansas City. Many have been students, working holidayers and migrants.

With this staff, they offer a handsome menu of liquor and beer, as well as good pub grub including Philly cheesesteaks, wings and fish and chips.

Kidd is especially proud of the Juicinder, a portmanteau of juicy and Cinder, which is a hazy New England IPA brewed with Australian malts and oats, then dryhopped with New Zealand and Australian hops. He said the beer was designed with Nick at Chillhops Brewing Company, located further south in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.

A map hanging in the bar is poked full of countless orange pins showing the hometowns of customers who have had a drink at The Cinder Bar. The typical clientele coming here are "Students, educators, business men and women, travelers, pilots and crews, professional sportspeople, mums and dads," as Kidd described.

"That's what makes visiting Cinder so awesome," he said. "Every night you can strike up a conversation with someone from a different place who does something completely different to what you do. Some nights, the staff could be the only non-Koreans at Cinder, whereas other nights you might even forget for a moment that you are actually in South Korea. Usually, it's a great mix!"

In the last few years, Songdo's population has been growing, as more Koreans and foreigners come from outside to make the city their new home. As more universities, research institutes and international bodies set up shop on the island, the population is young, sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

"I love living here," Kidd said. "Watching it develop year by year, and constantly meeting new people that are moving here is really exciting. The Songdo community is really tight, too. Online, there is a lot of support for residents of Songdo, and lots of activities for residents to get into! As a resident, you can feel the constant change, and are happy to be a part of the Songdo community, and happy to be part of that change. Songdo is becoming super diverse, and it's a place where people want to be."

Kidd also praised the city's closeness to the sea, as well as its open design and green spaces. He and his wife moved from Incheon's mainland to Songdo a couple years ago to be closer to the bar. A couple of years ago, he opened a second Cinder Bar on Yeongjong Island near Incheon International Airport, a 21-minute drive away across the 21.38-kilometer Incheon Bridge, so he will see how the community develops there, as well as probably maintaining an eye on the airport and the airline staff coming and going through there post-pandemic, many of whom stay on Songdo when in Korea.

Songdo had a bad rap early on due to its extended development phase, but now it is undeniably taking form, as even more glistening towers rise out of the mud, the streets fill with traffic and the commercial spaces fill with world-class establishments. And Kidd has been there at The Cinder Bar's counter to see it all, as a city was born, learned how to walk and took its first sip of (hazy IPA) beer.

"When development of this city gets close to completion, it is going to be one hell of a place," he said. "For locals and expatriates alike, there is something unique and awesome for everybody here, and Songdo is only going to get better and become a more attractive place to live in."

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