Next come the huge white iron wrought gates of the Botanic Gardens, at the junction of Cluny and Holland roads, across from the British High Commission, on the tree-lined boulevard of Tanglin Road.

Off Tanglin Road, smaller roads lead to leafy enclaves of high-end residences and black-and-white colonial bungalows.

Where Tanglin Road leads into Orchard Road is the 1920s low-rise Tudor Court – which housed government offices during the British colonial era – and a building dating to 1972: the Tanglin Shopping Centre, which was sold in early 2022 for conversion into a mixed-use development.

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On this pedestrian-friendly stretch, up to the busy cross-junction of Orchard and Scotts roads, and the Shaw Centre (owned by the families of Hong Kong movie mogul Run Run Shaw and his brother, Runme Shaw), the pavements are wider, tourist footfall is lighter and the tempo is slower.

The most colourful stretch of the western end of Orchard is between the Shaw Centre and Tudor Court, home to the St Regis Singapore hotel and the family-centric Forum Galleria mall.

Fist fights among drunk customers were common and following one that resulted in a death in 2019, the authorities stopped renewing licences for nightlife businesses operating here. An exodus of bars and massage parlours ensued, as did efforts to attract more wholesome tenants.

Recent years have seen a surge in independent shops with boho chic vibes – unlike the mass, chain stores in central Orchard Road – opening on this stretch, commonly thought of as being in the Tanglin subdistrict.

“Tanglin is envisioned to be a mixed-use neighbourhood with a strong arts and artisanal flavour,” says a spokesman from the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), Singapore’s urban planning body.

“The opening of the Orchard Boulevard MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line in November 2022 [just behind Tanglin Mall, which dates back to 1995, and about 1km to the southwest of Orchard Towers] has brought added convenience to visitors in this sub-precinct.”

The western end of Orchard Road should have its own art trail. Famous “landmarks” such as Li Chen’s Dragon-riding Bodhisattva and the curvaceous Reclining Woman by Fernando Botero stand beside local artist Anthony Poon’s Sense Surround series, outside the St Regis Singapore.

Behind it is the former Regent Singapore, which reopened in January as the Conrad Singapore Orchard. Because the hotel’s owner – the Pontiac Land Group, which belongs to Singapore’s Kwee family, who are noted art collectors – remains the same, many familiar works, including Stepanie Scuris’ Harmony Fountains, are still in place.

The Tanglin Shopping Centre’s closure saw some of its antique shops move into Orchard Towers. One of them is The Antique Room, which claims to specialise in items from China’s Song dynasty (960-1279).

A delightful find in the building is So France Claymore, a French grocer and bistro on the ground floor that spills onto an alfresco pavement on the quiet Claymore Drive, at the back of Orchard Towers. The croque-monsieur is delicious.

Next to Orchard Towers is the 31-year-old Palais Renaissance mall, the beneficiary of a S$7 million (US$5.2 million) revamp in 2022.

Cooler cafes, restaurants and lifestyle shops – 75 per cent are exclusive to Palais Renaissance – opened after French-inspired design elements and artisanal marquetry were introduced to the interiors.

The facade of the building now opens onto Orchard Road, introducing popular dining spaces – including creperie French Fold – to the pavement. Beside the Palais Renaissance’s main entrance is a multi-concept shop with a curious mix of stock; pick up a cushion cover and a bottle Chablis at the same time.

Inside the mall, Mutiny is a dual-concept space that opened in 2022 and offers yoga and Pilates classes with a twist – think yoga with wheels and Pilates using modified Reformer machines. It also sells activewear that, like the interiors, is beautiful.

For those who prefer using the classical Reformer for Pilates, Hong Kong celebrity instructor Heather Thomas, who moved to Singapore in 2022, has also opened a studio in Palais Renaissance.

Beauty clinics and spas are plentiful within the shopping centres that line this part of Orchard Road. In Palais Renaissance alone, 10 out of the 32 tenants in the retail areas offer aesthetic services – the area is rapidly turning into Singapore’s Gangnam, Seoul’s go-to district for plastic surgery.

The recent opening of the Singapore Edition and Artyzen Singapore hotels – which face each other across Cuscaden Road – and before those, the Pan Pacific Orchard on Claymore Road, as well as the rebranding of the Singapore Conrad Orchard, suggest a rosy future is on the cards for this end of Orchard Road.

The Edition – which has been adopted almost as a clubhouse by the well-heeled residents of 88 Boulevard, an adjoining uber-luxe condominium block – boasts Fysh, a restaurant that bills itself as a “fish butchery specialist”; an attractive novelty in a city where people are always looking for the next new thing.

Across from Palais Renaissance and Orchard Towers is a stretch of buildings owned by Singaporean tycoon Ong Beng Seng’s Hotel Properties that includes the former Hilton Singapore building, which now houses the IHG-managed Voco Orchard Singapore.

The government has just given the green light for this cluster to be redeveloped, and in the meantime, The Standard – to the northwest of Orchard Road – is slated to be the next hotel to open in 2024.

Watch this space.