When they first widened thst area the restaurants on the other side if the road quickly put table ,chairs,umbrellas and lights on the new beach claimimg it for themselves....it did attract a lot of Thai tourists especially in the evenings...and then the local council Na-Jomtien came and told them to remove everything from the beach
there was no such order from the Pattaya council so all the tourists left...there was/is a very clear literal line in the sand with marked difference in tourist numbers eaither side of it.