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THEIR aim: To tank up on cheap alcohol before heading into nearby nightclub Zouk to party the night away.
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In groups of between two and a dozen, they come ready for their own warm-up party.
Armed with bottles of booze, mixers and plastic cups, they settle down for an hour or two in the open-air area at the back of the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Havelock Road and the adjacent Robertson Bridge.
Their presence - and annoying behaviour - is most felt by passers-by, hotel staff and security as well as patrons of nearby restaurants on Wednesday nights.
Wednesday is, after all, when Zouk holds its popular Mambo Jambo night, a hit among the young and young at heart for nearly two decades.
With each drink the youth become rowdier, even vomiting in toilets of the nearby Waterfront Plaza and King's Centre.
When they are done, they leave a mess of empty bottles, plastic bags and cups behind, said Ms Joyce Ng, manager of Quaich Bar by The Whisky Store at Waterfront Plaza.
"They tend to mess up the toilet... and they frequently puke without cleaning up after themselves," she said. "It's really bad for the image of the place, and may drive away our patrons."
The situation has spiralled out of control of late, she added, and the building's management recently installed keycard readers on the ground-floor toilet doors to limit who goes in.
That way, only patrons of the bars and restaurants in the building can access the toilets after 11pm. The automatic doors are also shut after that time to keep non-patrons out.
It is understood that mirrors in the male toilets have been smashed by wild revellers in the past, and altercations, though not common, have been known to happen.
On two separate occasions over the past month, my paper noted that building staff had to embark on a "washing" spree after 11pm in a bid to get the youth to vacate the premises.
On Wednesday, three men dressed in suits were seen patrolling the area. Barriers to prevent people from stepping inside hotel property had also been set up around the hotel's perimeter. The hotel declined to comment when contacted. Police officers were seen conducting spot checks on the more than 20 groups of youth who had set up makeshift bars of their own on Robertson Bridge.
Even the Holiday Inn Atrium hotel situated across the road has had to take measures to deal with the constant flow of human traffic into its premises.
The youth, who previously used its main guest entrance to access the convenience stores at the adjacent Concorde Shopping Centre, now have to enter via the carpark.
Two convenience stores there make the effort all worthwhile for them. For instance, a 750ml bottle of Chivas Regal whisky sells for around $50.
The stores even throw in free soft drinks and plastic cups to sweeten the deal. A bottle of the alcoholic beverage costs $200 at Zouk.
When contacted, Zouk's head of events and marketing, Mr Timothy Chia, said that the 20-year-old club is aware of these outdoor revellers.
He said that the club will introduce "more drastic measures" to ensure that the disturbance caused to the club's neighbours is kept to a minimum if the situation worsens.
The club's bouncers currently "join the authorities to patrol the public space outside the club in order to spread the message that we must be responsible when using such public spaces and that we should all respect the environment", he added.
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