Demolishing the historic British Embassy to make way for a shopping center

[Just Weird]

26 minutes ago, Saltire said:

51 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Presumably they'll let you know when you make your appointment.

I have one for next week hence my question. Email has old address so I assume they still have at least one room operational.

Hence my comment, they did give you the address.

[Just Weird]

12 minutes ago, wombat said:

and the pound keeps falling

What the relevance of that, in this context, to the Foreign Office?

[Just Weird]

12 minutes ago, sanemax said:

I just said that it would have been nicer had they preserved the building , maybe the Thai Government should have bought it or maybe the UK should have given the land back for free , on the condition that the building remains and the green area is turned into a public park 

"...maybe the Thai Government should have bought it or maybe the UK should have given the land back for free...".

What?  It's value was £420,000,000!

[MikeN]

19 minutes ago, sanemax said:

The UK leased Hong Kong from China for 150 years and that lease expired in 1998

Actually it was only the New Territories and the outlying islands that were leased, under the Nangking Treaty China ceded Hong Kong Island to the British in perpetuity, and also the Kowloon peninsula a few years later. So in theory the UK “could” have kept a lot of Hong Kong but it would not have been practical.

[peterb17]

Well - at least something good came out of the demise of the embassy - which is sad.

A farewell dinner was organised and raised 220,000 baht for various charities.

 

its a shame 

[Assurancetourix]

35 minutes ago, Snackbar said:

Great informative post, a vary rare occurrence here.

 

Technically Thailand has 70 years of history. 

 

1939 to 1945

 

1955 to the present day

 

The current national flag is 102 years old. Red, white and blue represents the ‘relationship’ (or peace negotiations) with France and Great Britain. 

 

As for for the rest of the curmudgeons on here, ‘I remember when it was all fields round ear when I was a lad.’

 

I will add that during the last world war the British and the Chinese had signed an agreement where they shared Thailand then allied with Japan.
Yes, allied, not occupies, do not confuse.
If Seri-Thai had not existed, this agreement would have been under construction and today's Thailand would no longer exist since some would have been part of present-day Burma and the other would have become a Chinese province.

which will undoubtedly be the case very soon when the Chinese ogre digested Laos and Cambodia

 

About Seri-Thai 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thai_Movement

 

There is a very instructive and free  museum about Seri-Thai  in the inner courtyard of a Phrae hotel

 

[shy coconut]

2 hours ago, JamesBlond said:

Would have made a nice museum in parkland. Museum of what hardly matters (Thailand natural history?), but parkland in a city centre does.

No one is going to pay all that money for a park or small hotel.

 

Once the decision to sell the site, it was inevitable that it would be torn down.

[orchis]

1 hour ago, TalingChanMan said:

I believe the Queen Victoria monument has been moved to the British Club in Silom.

according to this article the effort to do that failed.
http://www.thebigchilli.com/feature-stories/undignified-fate-of-queen-victoria-statue

[friend of siam]

40 minutes ago, sungod said:

Yep, the actual 'Embassy is there until the new one opens up in Sathorn

maybe the receice a free office 10 sqm in the new shopping centre...the sign say 3 rd floor behind the ladys toilets

[transam]

6 minutes ago, orchis said:

according to this article the effort to do that failed.
http://www.thebigchilli.com/feature-stories/undignified-fate-of-queen-victoria-statue

Hmmmmm, how degrading for one of our finest monarchs....????

 

Mind you, would hate to think who would move it without destroying it....

[zydeco]

Thailand is no longer important to the British. And the British are no longer important to Thailand.

[Cranky]

12 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

What the relevance of that, in this context, to the Foreign Office?

Exchange rate actually quite relevant - had they have held on till now to sell it they would have trousered another 40 million quid or so. 

 

Embassy, as an Embassy, was a waste of space anyway as the services to common or garden expats were gradually withdrawn over the last decade or so and became totally irrelevant. If the powers that be's goal is to turn Bangkok into a faceless concrete jungle they're doing a pretty good job.  Money talks.  

[zydeco]

2 hours ago, Vacuum said:

And same/identical stuff are sold in all of them.

Can't have the Chinese tourists all in one shopping mall can you?

[Cranky]

4 minutes ago, zydeco said:

Thailand is no longer important to the British. And the British are no longer important to Thailand.

Harsh but fair.

[Kinnock]

As the land was originally paid for by British taxpayers, I assume the millions the Foreign Office received for the land will be returned to British taxpayers in the form of a cash rebate?

 

????????????????????

[shy coconut]

27 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

What the relevance of that, in this context, to the Foreign Office?

Maybe if they sold the place today they would have got a lot more due to the exchange rates.

[DLock]

2 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

As the land was originally paid for by British taxpayers, I assume the millions the Foreign Office received for the land will be returned to British taxpayers in the form of a cash rebate?

 

????????????????????

These "taxpayer" arguments are plain dumb.

 

I have no idea who paid for the initial land or construction, but lets assume it was the British Government on behalf of taxpayers. The money will go back to the British Government to be used for more taxpayer services, whether in Thailand for a new Embassy or back in the UK.

 

Call it greed. Call it what you want. But land was for sale, Central group bought it, and they can do what they want with it. Central Group are not hurting for money, so pretty sure they know what they are doing. 

 

[tawan300]

Yes it is a shame to see historical building torn down but lets not forget who had the privilege to look upon this building and grounds bloated civil servants who played God on who they deemed suitable for a holiday visa, and who you could marry and looked upon most Thai females as prostitutes while letting all the wrong people into the UK ,now we run around spending billions a year to watch and pacify them.          

[NightSky]

Monee #1

[Just Weird]

13 minutes ago, Cranky said:

Exchange rate actually quite relevant - had they have held on till now to sell it they would have trousered another 40 million quid or so. 

Perhaps you should have been the Chancellor as you seem to have the exchange rate crystal ball knowledge that the Government, or anyone else, didn't have.  How much more would they have made if they'd not sold for another, say, 12 months?

[shy coconut]

1 minute ago, Just Weird said:

Perhaps you should have been the Chancellor as you seem to have the exchange rate crystal ball knowledge that the Government, or anyone else, didn't have.  How much more would they have made if they'd not sold for another, say, 12 months?

Blimey, I was only offering a possible explanation to the posters brexit themed quote.

No need to get your knickers in a twist.

[Just Weird]

12 minutes ago, shy coconut said:

Maybe if they sold the place today they would have got a lot more due to the exchange rates.

Maybe, maybe not. 

 

What's the exchange rate going to be next month, you seem to know, or is it just hindsight that your advice to the Government, as Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Foreign Minister would have been?  Maybe they should have held on for eternity?

[Krataiboy]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

Another shopping center? Really? As if there aren't enough already. The market is not saturated, its bloody flooded with them.

Spot on. By the time they build their new emporium, we'll all either be shopping on line or living hand to mouth in wake of another financial meltdown.

[Just Weird]

1 minute ago, shy coconut said:

5 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Perhaps you should have been the Chancellor as you seem to have the exchange rate crystal ball knowledge that the Government, or anyone else, didn't have.  How much more would they have made if they'd not sold for another, say, 12 months?

Blimey, I was only offering a possible explanation to the posters brexit themed quote.

No need to get your knickers in a twist.

Was that comment I made addressed to you?  No. It wasn't.  Don't get your knickers in a twist.

[Snackbar]

49 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

so we could stuff our Indian opium down Chinese throats and make money during the great empire days. 

The East India Company, a private enterprise of the British government, trading in legal opium in exchange for Chinese tea. Leading to the opium wars and Britains’ occupation of Hong Kong. 

 

Today’s entrepreneurial spirit, in developing countries, is to replace symbolic buildings with fake environments to promote consumerism to the dim witted.

 

On the the other hand developed countries promote fear and loathing in the shape of fake news and ostensible known unknowns; Global warming, opps, climate change and Brexit. 

 

It’s subterfuge to keep the sheeple in line.

[RJRS1301]

Really just a building passed its use by date, of no historical importance to Thailand

Of course Thailand needs another multi-storey shopping complex and of course the hotel rooms will have direct access to the mall

 

[BigC]

Where  did the money go to? The corrupt EU?

 

How can the government  have the power to sell off UK assets that belong to British  tax payers? Where has the money  gone?

 

Real tractors  are the UK government 

[Lazy Sod]

I feel a bit sad about it, but can understand the financial logic. The Brits don't need such a large embassy nowadays. It must have cost a fortune to keep the place running especially with the security issues. Just a shame they couldn't find a better use for the land, for example it would have made a great park with the ambassador's residence and Queen Vic as attractions.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Lazy Sod
typo

[PaDavid]

Although it's tragic to lose such an historical building, it was definitely in need of a makeover. After I visited there for my affirmation for marriage, I emailed the embassy saying how scruffy it looked. Naturally I didn't receive a reply. 

 

Had it been in UK, as has been previously stated, it would have been a listed building. But, it seems off home soil it doesn't matter. A very blinkered attitude imho

[beautifulthailand99]

50 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

"...maybe the Thai Government should have bought it or maybe the UK should have given the land back for free...".

What?  It's value was £420,000,000!

We should have negotiated in Baht at the time and done a money transfer back to sterling  when the building finally came down.