A "Bar Leone" Has Opened in New York, and the Hong Kong Bar Says It's Unaffiliated

The 2025 World’s Best Bar restates its two-city footprint as questions swirl around the same-name venue.

Summary

Hong Kong's Bar Leone has released a full statement confirming it has no connection to a same-name venue that opened in New York City on September 10, 2026

The bar first flagged the situation in May 2026, when it distanced itself from an associated Instagram account, and says its position is unchanged now that the venue is operating

Bar Leone reaffirmed its two-location footprint and its ongoing expansion plans while calling the dispute an active matter it cannot discuss in detail

Bar Leone, the Hong Kong bar named the World’s Best in 2025, has publicly disavowed a New York City venue now operating under the same name. Addressing the NYC bar, which opened on September 10, Bar Leone laid out its position in a full statement, making clear it has no involvement in the business and has granted it no permission to use the name.

The clarification escalates a situation the bar first raised in May 2026, when its concern was an Instagram account promoting a New York location. That promise has now become a physical bar open to the public, and Bar Leone says its stance has not changed in the months since. The team also used the statement to restate the boundaries of its real operation, reaffirm its 2025 accolade, and signal that international growth, including in the United States, remains on the table.

The bar issued the following statement in full:

Bar Leone would like to clarify our position regarding the venue operating under the name “Bar Leone” that opened on September 10, 2026 in New York City.

We first became aware of this venue’s plans in May 2026, when we publicly clarified that we were not affiliated with the associated Instagram account. That remains the case today: we are not affiliated, associated, or in any way connected with the New York venue now trading under the Bar Leone name, and we have not authorized, licensed, endorsed, or sponsored it in any way.

Bar Leone was founded in Hong Kong in June 2023, and opened a second location in Shanghai in November 2025. We were named The World’s 50 Best Bars’ World’s Best Bar in 2025. While we continue to evaluate potential international expansion, including in the United States, we have no further update to share at this time.

We take the protection of the Bar Leone name and reputation seriously. As this is an active matter, we are not able to comment further at this stage.