Is the closure of your favorite bar or restaurant imminent?

[Leaver]

2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Looks like some business owners have already done a runner...

 

Some Pattaya businesses have quit and run

 

A tragic aspect of the collapse of tourism in Pattaya is the sight of closed down shop units with piles of uncollected post and a clutch of unpaid utility bills taped on the padlocked doors.  https://www.pattayamail.com/news/some-pattaya-businesses-have-quit-and-run-330867

 

Makes you wonder if there would have been a different result for the tenant, and the Thai landlord, had many of the Thai landlords that own these now vacant establishments did a deal with their tenant.  

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Makes you wonder if there would have been a different result for the tenant, and the Thai landlord, had many of the Thai landlords that own these now vacant establishments did a deal with their tenant.  

That is true...but many of these businesses would need a rent of zero to survive right now. With a legal rental contract of xx.xx baht per month for the lease period, they figure just take them to court and force them to pay (as some apparently have done). I can tell you one thing...going forward, EVERY commercial rental contract around the world will have a pandemic clause reducing or voiding the lease as standard.

[Leaver]

20 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

That is true...but many of these businesses would need a rent of zero to survive right now. With a legal rental contract of xx.xx baht per month for the lease period, they figure just take them to court and force them to pay (as some apparently have done). I can tell you one thing...going forward, EVERY commercial rental contract around the world will have a pandemic clause reducing or voiding the lease as standard.

No doubt some business owners will be trying to leave Thailand, as "the dream" becomes a nightmare.  I hope they can get out before their Court case. 

 

I think the days of "key money" are also coming to an end, as business owners will have a more pay as you go approach.  Key money was dying here pre Covid.   

[kingofthemountain]

On 10/24/2020 at 7:41 PM, polpott said:

They've been overly optimistic since day one. At the beginning of the shutdown, they were sending out a strong message that it would be back to normal and tourists would be back in 2 weeks, then it was 1 month and so it went on. Personally I think that was an attempt to discourage the girls from leaving Pattaya and they would be in the "herding cats" scenario. Being a cynic and knowing Bryan Flowers, it tend to think that the food handouts served the same purpose.

 

I don't think that they have 25 bars open now. I think both bars on the poon, Orange and Blue? are currently closed. Several of their bars on Soi 6 are closed and the girls distributed amongst the remaining bars. Some bars are literally heaving with girls. Crazy. I watched a very recent video of a guy doing a walk through of Soi 6 around dusk, usually a busy time for that Soi. He counted 8 customers, not in one bar, in the whole Soi. NWG must be bleeding money like a stuck pig.

 

 

Having only one head (Mr flower, as you name him) to decide for everything for all the group was imo a force but also a weakness, as it was to put all the eggs in the same basket with one girly bar model in the same area.

 

It was a nice idea when the conjocture was favorable. it's becoming a trap with this pandemic.

 

The first emergency was to negociate a rent to 0 with the landlords during the pandemic. 

The landlords refusing to discuss the terms of the lease, this important step has been missed

regarding this fact. the solution was pretty easy, you send a letter to all, asking a stop on the payement

or you close the bar forever (And you must be ready to do it) and you keep open only the bars at the

locations with a comprehensive landlord.

 

Mr flower being an incredible optimist, he was sure the crisis was just a matter of few weeks, or few months in the worst scenario. and he wouldn't want to take the risk to lost one of the bars, thinking they were still having a high financial value.

 

Unfortunately it wasn't the case, a bar in Pattaya whatever his location, worth actualy absolutely 0.

Even if you pay someone to take it, nobody should be interested in a business with no any positive

sign of activity before months or even years.

 

The 3 bars on the poon (Orange bar, Blue bar and Anny bar) are not closed, but they are not anymore under the NWG banner, the Thai lady owning the building has decided to run them directly. 

 

Half of the NWG bars on soi 6 are closed, and half are still open. because for some reasons the boss is  pretty sure the borders will be open for this coming high season.

 

Again unfortunately they maybe have to close definitively around feb\march 2021 as i don't see any reason for the Thai goverment to open the gates before the next summer or even later

 

On a side note it was not the initial plan but the covid has been seen by the conservative elites runing the country like a god send by the sky.

 

They have been since very long time embarassed (To say the least) with Thailand being one of the world best sex destination and the virus has given to them an unique opportunity to get rid of this seedy reputation and replace the lonely aged westerner intersted by the girls visitor by a younger couple of chinese intersted by shopping and selfies, a process already on the trail at least since 2014\2015

Edited October 25, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[Oldie]

9 hours ago, redwood1 said:

BurgerKing Central is gone? Are you sure? It was there a few weeks ago....

 

BurgerKing is way better than Mcdonalds...

 

It is not really gone. It is closed and it looks as if they can open it at any time again. 

[Oldie]

50 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

 

They have been since very long time embarassed (To say the least) with Thailand being one of the world best sex destination and the virus has given to them an unique opportunity to get rid of this seedy reputation and replace the lonely aged westerner intersted by the girls visitor by a younger couple of chinese intersted by shopping and selfies, a process already on the trail at least since 2014\2015

I don't know were this thinking comes from. At least it doesn't fit for Pattaya. Since we have the military government many new sex bars opened in Pattaya. They even extended the opening hours from midnight to 2 and 4 (depending on the zone). At the moment the closing time is midnight because of the emergency decree. But here in Central Pattaya bars are open with noisy live music until 3. And a bit more quiet until 5 and longer and this very close to the Pattaya City Police station. Obviously the police does not want to stop this business. For sure they can even hear the noise and I know of many unsuccessful complaints of people living there. 

 

How do I see all this? I have been living in Central Pattaya for very many years. It wasn't that bad before. But since the last years I have the feeling I live in the middle of a huge brothel. I don't know any sex city like Pattaya in the world. And they do everything to keep this image alive. The tourism minister even wants to extend the opening times so that these businesses can make more money.

 

 

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

A tragic aspect of the collapse of tourism in Pattaya is the sight of closed down shop units with piles of uncollected post and a clutch of unpaid utility bills taped on the padlocked

So it is beginning to look a lot like a pre-Covid Northern UK town centre then? Charity shops and betting shops come next. 

[rott]

In Soi Post Office there is a row of ten or eleven shops with only one open amongst them. 

But on the corner of the Soi and Beach Rd the McDonald's is showing signs that they may be re-opening soon. 

Good, bad or indifferent news according to your taste. 

[Pattaya Spotter]

6 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

They have been since very long time embarassed (To say the least) with Thailand being one of the world best sex destination and the virus has given to them an unique opportunity to get rid of this seedy reputation and replace the lonely aged westerner intersted by the girls visitor by a younger couple of chinese intersted by shopping and selfies, a process already on the trail at least since 2014\2015

Works for me.

[Pattaya Spotter]

5 hours ago, Oldie said:

It is not really gone. It is closed and it looks as if they can open it at any time again. 

As long as the Carl's Jr. at Central stays open I'm good.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[Pattaya Spotter]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

So it is beginning to look a lot like a pre-Covid Northern UK town centre then? Charity shops and betting shops come next. 

No betting shops...gambling is ???? in Thailand...lots of lottery ticket sellers wandering about, however.

[kingofthemountain]

7 hours ago, Oldie said:

I don't know were this thinking comes from. At least it doesn't fit for Pattaya. Since we have the military government many new sex bars opened in Pattaya. They even extended the opening hours from midnight to 2 and 4 (depending on the zone). At the moment the closing time is midnight because of the emergency decree. But here in Central Pattaya bars are open with noisy live music until 3. And a bit more quiet until 5 and longer and this very close to the Pattaya City Police station. Obviously the police does not want to stop this business. For sure they can even hear the noise and I know of many unsuccessful complaints of people living there. 

 

How do I see all this? I have been living in Central Pattaya for very many years. It wasn't that bad before. But since the last years I have the feeling I live in the middle of a huge brothel. I don't know any sex city like Pattaya in the world. And they do everything to keep this image alive. The tourism minister even wants to extend the opening times so that these businesses can make more money.

 

 

You are mixing the local authorities with the elites runing the country.

Thais are pragmatics. the local authorities (Mayor. police and so on)

are very pleased with the sex trade particularly if they can do money with it

on the other side the 500 Thai very high so families, including the one we can not talking about

are very pleased to be get rid of the Thailand seedy reputation, and they aren't concerned at

all if this move costs few thousands jobs or the agony of an entire city, they aren't concerned at all by

this minor (From their point of view) collateral damages

[kingofthemountain]

2 hours ago, rott said:

In Soi Post Office there is a row of ten or eleven shops with only one open amongst them. 

But on the corner of the Soi and Beach Rd the McDonald's is showing signs that they may be re-opening soon. 

Good, bad or indifferent news according to your taste. 

The macDonald at the corner of soi post office has always been very quiet since the opening

i wonder if they have been able to make a profit along the years with these very few customers

so they shouldn't see a big difference 

However the terrace was nice, particularly the sofa in the corner

[rott]

Not a burger eater myself but I would agree with you that it never seemed to do very much. I will be surprised if it does open up again while there are still only a few about. 

On the next block along, still no signs of life at Starbucks. 

[TaaSaparot]

I see Wooden Box is no more.

[luckyluke]

And some still believe in it.
Soi Bukhao, next to PissStop, a new bar, previously a Top Charoen.

[kingofthemountain]

39 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

And some still believe in it.
Soi Bukhao, next to PissStop, a new bar, previously a Top Charoen.

Wow, a very optimist (Or overconfident) investissor then

i see everyday more and more bars closed in Pattaya, and even

with the number of bars drasticaly reduced the ones still open are

struggling to pay the bills, i don't even talk about doing a living.

[swissie]

12 hours ago, rott said:

In Soi Post Office there is a row of ten or eleven shops with only one open amongst them. 

But on the corner of the Soi and Beach Rd the McDonald's is showing signs that they may be re-opening soon. 

Good, bad or indifferent news according to your taste. 

Wow! If out of 11 shops only 1 is still open, things must really be bad.

Would not be surprised if the same ratio applies to the many Guest-Houses in the area.

Once the Covid thing is over, early bird visitors may end up sleeping at McDonalds on the terrace (on the sofa in the corner).

[prk888]

Sad to read Welcome Inn, Khao Noi, now for sale.

Best of luck Bruce  and thanks for decent food at fair prices

[swissie]

9 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

The macDonald at the corner of soi post office has always been very quiet since the opening

i wonder if they have been able to make a profit along the years with these very few customers

so they shouldn't see a big difference 

However the terrace was nice, particularly the sofa in the corner

Yeah, the terrace at sunrise. Sipping coffee, reading the newspaper, chatting with the street-sweeper ladies and watching the girls go home after having finished their "night-shift".
Those were the days!

[kingofthemountain]

2 minutes ago, swissie said:

Wow! If out of 11 shops only 1 is still open, things must really be bad.

Would not be surprised if the same ratio applies to the many Guest-Houses in the area.

Once the Covid thing is over, early bird visitors may end up sleeping at McDonalds on the terrace (on the sofa in the corner).

All the soi between beach road and second road are heavily impacted

most of the businesses are already closed in these little streets

so yes Soi Yamato and Soi post office are taking a beating too

[Oldie]

1 minute ago, kingofthemountain said:

Soi post office are taking a beating too

But this guy renting out motorbikes uses now both sides of the Soi to park his many motorbikes. Obviously a great business with many customers. Just kidding. I am also wondering that jet skies can be left on the beach for many days. There is not much law enforcement anymore. Also some bars do what they want and nobody cares for whatever reason. 

[swissie]

20 minutes ago, Oldie said:

But this guy renting out motorbikes uses now both sides of the Soi to park his many motorbikes. Obviously a great business with many customers. Just kidding. I am also wondering that jet skies can be left on the beach for many days. There is not much law enforcement anymore. Also some bars do what they want and nobody cares for whatever reason. 

"There is not much law enforcement anymore. Also some bars do what they want and nobody cares for whatever reason".

 

You got me all riled up. I am salivating. Are the days of "sex, drugs & rock and roll" just around the corner once more?

[rott]

37 minutes ago, swissie said:

Wow! If out of 11 shops only 1 is still open, things must really be bad.

Would not be surprised if the same ratio applies to the many Guest-Houses in the area.

Once the Covid thing is over, early bird visitors may end up sleeping at McDonalds on the terrace (on the sofa in the corner).

Lol, no shortage of rooms and at knockdown prices. 

Ref the closed places the one still trading is the Corona Bar. The whole Soi is not like that, but the Miami agogo not been open for a few nights. 

[chrisandsu]

Surely McDonalds and the like are franchise's? They are super expensive so I doubt they will be closing permanently.   

[swissie]

5 minutes ago, rott said:

Lol, no shortage of rooms and at knockdown prices. 

Ref the closed places the one still trading is the Corona Bar. The whole Soi is not like that, but the Miami agogo not been open for a few nights. 

What an Ironie = Corona Bar! But good to know. Always used to have my last drink at the Corona Bar as my Guest-House was only accross the street. Easy to navigate home after having consumed liberal amounts of Beer Chang.

 

Never spent much time at the "Miami". So cold inside, I got tired of wearing my fur coat in a GoGo Bar in Thailand.

[chrisandsu]

5 minutes ago, swissie said:

What an Ironie = Corona Bar! But good to know. Always used to have my last drink at the Corona Bar as my Guest-House was only accross the street. Easy to navigate home after having consumed liberal amounts of Beer Chang.

 

Never spent much time at the "Miami". So cold inside, I got tired of wearing my fur coat in a GoGo Bar in Thailand.

Surely the fur coat was primarily for pimping ? 

[swissie]

22 minutes ago, chrisandsu said:

Surely the fur coat was primarily for pimping ? 

No. For pimping purposes I always wore my yellow Bikini.

[redwood1]

12 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

Surely McDonalds and the like are franchise's? They are super expensive so I doubt they will be closing permanently.   

True....But you know its bad if a Mcdonalds does not even have enough business to pay a skeleton crew to pump out mostly pre-frozen food that has quite a big mark-up...

[BigStar]

19 hours ago, luckyluke said:

And some still believe in it.
Soi Bukhao, next to PissStop, a new bar, previously a Top Charoen.

"Is the closure of your favorite optometrist or pharmacy imminent?"

 

I've notice a couple of Save pharmacies and a Boots closed already.