Permeable pavement is generally considered as one of the most effective practices of rainwater management. This paper analyses the defects of current permeable pavement. Inspired by the honeycomb bionic structure which has superior mechanical properties and structural efficiency, an innovative "honeycomb-like" model of permeable brick measuring 190 × 100 × 60 mm in size was proposed and constructed. The mechanical strength and permeability performance of the honeycomb permeable brick were experimentally assessed by universal testing machine and artificial rainfall equipment, respectively. Experiment results demonstrated an excellent performance in compressive tolerance and permeability. The critical damage load (Fc) and compressive strength (Ec) of honeycomb brick were 336.46 KN and 17.70 MPa, which were 18.06% and 11.04% higher than that of ordinary solid permeable bricks, respectively, compared with the conventional permeable bricks. The honeycomb brick is capable of increasing the permeability coefficient by 19.2% and 11.96% under rainfall repetition period of 20 and 30 years respectively. These results demonstrated that the permeable brick with honeycomb-like structure can provide a new paving strategy for the construction of sponge city.