About Love Lane
Love Lane is a lane within the inner city of George Town. Today it forms the boundary between the core and buffer zones of the George Town Unesco World Heritage Site. It runs from Farquhar Street, through Muntri Street, to Chulia Street.
There is no complete agreement as to how Love Lane got its name. There is a belief that it was named after a British officer named Love, but this has not been verified. Another belief is that it was the site for early 19th century brothels for sailors and soldiers. The adjacent road, Muntri Street, was where the rich Straits Chinese housed their mistresses. What that has to do with Love Lane could not be ascertained. Then there is the somewhat farfetched theory that Love Lane was named after the self-flagellation procession staged by Shitte Muslims who in the early 19th century, paraded from the Indian Muslim settlements in Chulia Street through Love Lane, on their way to the sea, while the performed painful rituals of flogging themselves, in rememberance of the Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.
Getting to Love Lane
You can reach Love Lane by taking the Rapid Penang Free Shuttle Bus to Station No. 6 (Muzium), and then walking a short distance from Farquhar Street to Love Lane.
Sights along Love Lane
Sun Tak Association
Carpenter's Guild
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Love Lane sign (30 November 2008)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Love Lane Location Map
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