Des Voeux Road
Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West are two major streets on the north coast of Hong Kong Island. They are named after Sir William Des Vœux, the 10th Governor of Hong Kong. The official spelling today is Des Voeux Road, though older documents sometimes used the œ ligature.
In the 19th century, parts of the island’s northern shoreline were rebuilt through reclamation. The first phase created Bowring Praya West and Bowring Praya Central along the western and central shoreline. A second round of reclamation under Governor Des Voeux, completed in 1904, led to the streets being renamed Des Voeux Road West and Des Voeux Road Central. From 1942 to 1945, during Japanese occupation, the roads were renamed Shōwa-dori.
Des Voeux Road Central runs from Western District to Central and connects with Queen’s Road Central; after that, it becomes Queensway and later Hennessy Road. Des Voeux Road West runs from Sheung Wan to Western District and links with Connaught Road West, where it becomes Kennedy Town Praya at the western end of Queen’s Road West. The two roads share a tram line in the middle and have bus lanes; the MTR Island Line runs underneath. The Central–Mid-Levels escalator also links Des Voeux Road Central with Conduit Road.
Over the years, people have proposed turning a 1.4-kilometre section of Des Voeux Road Central into a pedestrian zone. The idea was first floated in 2000, with a later study in 2014 by the MTR and traffic firm MVA exploring how to improve the area. The plan would make the 1.4 km stretch from Pedder Street to Western Market pedestrian, keep the tram, divert buses to Connaught Road, and allow deliveries and emergency vehicles to use the area.
In 2016, a pilot event called Very DVRC showed that closing most of Des Voeux Road Central to cars could be done without harming traffic or business. In 2017, Walk DVRC Ltd was formed to push the idea forward.
Note: There was once a Des Voeux Road in Kowloon near Hung Hom Bay, but it no longer exists after redevelopment.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:50 (CET).