The Old Block: Service apartments and more in Ipoh Old Town

IPOH, March 4 — Located right next to Burps & Giggles café in Ipoh Old Town, the former United Asian Bank Ipoh building has been given a new lease of life as both a retail space and service apartments.

It is an extension of the highly successful and lively Kong Heng Square where its sister hotel, Sekeping Kong Heng, is located.

Called The Old Block (TOB), the four-storey building is a joint project by Ipoh-born Dexter Song and landscape architect Ng Sek San (who is also Ipoh-born).

The rooftop swimming pool that is shared between Sekeping Kong Heng and The Old Block (left). The rooftop garden at The Old Block (right).

Currently, even as restoration works continue for level four, the four apartment units on level three are already open for booking while the ground floor, mezzanine floor and second floor are all also ready as space for pop-up stores.

The Yasmin At Kong Heng museum (dedicated to the late Yasmin Ahmad who was well-known for her groundbreaking TV commercials as well as seminal movies)  is on the second floor while on the ground floor is Tok Tok Handicrafts stall and a news-stand..

Though it shares the same rooftop swimming pool with Sekeping Kong Heng, TOB is designed slightly differently.

TOB’s apartment units — named 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock — on the third floor consists of two sets of identical rooms, two facing front, two facing back.

The airy and spacious Room 1 o'clock at The Old Block.

Room 1 o’clock is a room for two that is spacious with a queen-sized bed made from pipes and wooden planks and has a row of floor to ceiling windows all around it giving it a bright airy feel.

Furnishing is quirky and whimsical; from the modern chic two-seater to a 1970s glass counter and old filing cabinets.

Room 1 O'Clock has a small kitchenette and sitting area so they can heat up and even cook simple food in the small serviced apartment.

The result is a hodge-podge of modern amenities, chic décor with a touch of Peranakan — they have antique Peranakan mirrors in the bathrooms — and plenty of wood and metal combinations.

Each room — or apartment unit — has a sitting area with a modern flat-screen television and a kitchenette with a fridge, a small oven, a stove and even a sink with dishwashing liquid.

Room 2 o'clock is suitable for families of four or two couples as it comes with two queen sized beds, one on an elevated platform and another hidden in a corner and the apartment also has a spacious sitting area and kitchenette.

For apartments meant for four people, there are two queen-sized beds within a larger space and for added privacy, one bed is located in a corner of its own while another is elevated on a platform accessible with a ladder.

There is also an airwell accessible from the larger rooms with a quirky chair for those craving for some sunlight and alone time.

The rooms at The Old Block also sports antique dressing tables matched with modern stools (left). A private little nook with sunlight streaming down accessible from Room 2 o'clock (right).

All rooms are air conditioned and come with the usual modern comforts of hot and cold showers and comfortably plush beds.

Up on the rooftop of TOB is an impressive rooftop garden overgrown with various local herbs and plants from holy basil to mint to long beans and passion fruit.

There are plans to start a salad bar at the roof top garden at The Old Block.

A salad bar on the rooftop is in the offing but it won’t be set up anytime soon, at least, not until the remaining four rooms on the fourth floor are fully completed.

Restoration works on the four other rooms are still underway and the rooms are expected to be fully completed by April.

Unlike Sekeping, TOB is meant specifically for long-staying guests so it also offers long-stay packages to those planning to stay for longer than a week.

Bookings for TOB can be made at www.sekeping.com/kongheng.