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[Jonathan Fairfield]

 

The hugely popular Ratchada night market in Bangkok is to close permanently, according to reports.

 

Popular with both tourists and locals alike, the ‘train night market’ had been temporarily closed due to restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

 

However, according to reports in Thai language media, the market will close permanently, with vendors already having been told they need to vacate the site.

 

A post on Facebook from one of the vendors which appears to confirm the closure, has been shared 32,000 times.

 

According to the post, the financial impact from the market’s closure due to COVID-19 was too much for the site’s owners to take.

 

While an official announcement is yet to be made, vendors have apparently been told the market will be demolished, with social media users speculating the huge land plot has been sold off for development.

 

Prior to the latest restrictions in Bangkok, Talad Rot Fai Ratchada market had been due to re-open on August 1.

 

However, vendors have now been told they have 14 days to vacate the site, the Bangkok Insight reported.

 

 

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[audaciousnomad]

The original Rot Fai market in Srinikarin has not been slated for closure. So there's always that...whenever things are back to normal.

[calbts2]

From 2013 until about 2017 - A fantastic night market for eating, drinking, and shopping primarily attended by local Thais and expats with few tourists.

 

2017-2019 - Ratchada Train Market and Esplanade shopping mall taken over nightly by annoying, rude, and loud Chinese tour groups which created hellish tour bus traffic and pollution on the street, an overcrowded MRT station every night, and a ruined ambiance/atmosphere of what the market once was.

 

March 2020 - until April 2021- Market gets closed down due to the Wuhan Virus.  Reopens later in year and regains its pleasant local ambiance - albeit with far less stalls open and people attending. The one big benefit being the disappearance of Chinese tour groups.

 

July 2021 - Due to enforced lockdowns/rampant virus spread and the government destroying the economy with no end in sight - small businesses cannot hold on any longer (who can blame them when they get no financial support).
Ratchada Train Night Market gone forever.

 

Expect to see a lot more of this in the coming months as Thailand is in the midst of its worst ever economic depression. - Thanks CCP!!

[Kinnock]

At least will create space for another condo building and shopping mall to help with the chronic shortage of such facilities in Bangkok.

[burner2014]

1 hour ago, calbts2 said:

From 2013 until about 2017 - A fantastic night market for eating, drinking, and shopping primarily attended by local Thais and expats with few tourists.

 

2017-2019 - Ratchada Train Market and Esplanade shopping mall taken over nightly by annoying, rude, and loud Chinese tour groups which created hellish tour bus traffic and pollution on the street, an overcrowded MRT station every night, and a ruined ambiance/atmosphere of what the market once was.

 

March 2020 - until April 2021- Market gets closed down due to the Wuhan Virus.  Reopens later in year and regains its pleasant local ambiance - albeit with far less stalls open and people attending. The one big benefit being the disappearance of Chinese tour groups.

 

July 2021 - Due to enforced lockdowns/rampant virus spread and the government destroying the economy with no end in sight - small businesses cannot hold on any longer (who can blame them when they get no financial support).
Ratchada Train Night Market gone forever.

 

Expect to see a lot more of this in the coming months as Thailand is in the midst of its worst ever economic depression. - Thanks CCP!!

I can't agree more. Since 2017 this market was trash due to the fact that you were surrounded by only Chinese group tours.

Still I have great memories with this market especially during New Years Eve pre-drinking.

[Golden Triangle]

I don't know the market or the area but going by the photo if that's anywhere near the river then that land is worth a bloody fortune.

[ukrules]

One of the Hua Hin night markets closed late last year because the rent to unsustainable levels

 

[spidermike007]

More casualties, in what appears to be a war on the common man, and his ability to earn a livelihood. Covid is one thing, sadistic punishment is another. 

[NCC1701A]

i got here seven years ago and it seems everything is being destroyed. 

 

it's horrible. 

 

 

[spidermike007]

27 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

i got here seven years ago and it seems everything is being destroyed. 

 

it's horrible. 

 

 

Feel the same way. I actually had a conversation with my Thai wife today about leaving. First time I have seriously contemplated that, in well over a decade. It would be a big move, as we have assets here to consider, and we are both close to her lovely family. 

 

Neither of us see any hope for the future. This is not about Covid. Though the handling of it has sure been disillusioning. It is about the possibility of a future. What will happen to change things and put this nation on a forward path with any kind of promise? Even if they get rid of the most horrible leader they have had in ages, how will they get rid of the highly corrupt and totally compromised 250 proxy senators? And will any of them ever be held to account? The level of toxic corruption and the "above the law" nonsense gets very tiring. 

 

And if they cannot figure out a way out of this backwards moving and ever deepening destruction and sabotage, do we want to spend the rest of our lives dealing with such idiots, creeps, lowlife leaders, moral degradation, and constant threats? 

 

Perhaps not. Need to contemplate this a bit. But, both of us are very fed up. I am guessing we are not the only ones. 

Edited July 31, 2021 by spidermike007

[Caldera]

Saddening, I liked to go there some years ago. I hope this kind of format will be back, there or elsewhere.

 

Does anyone know the fate of the other "Train Night Market" on Srinakarin Road, nearby Seacon Square?

[GroveHillWanderer]

6 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Saddening, I liked to go there some years ago. I hope this kind of format will be back, there or elsewhere.

 

Does anyone know the fate of the other "Train Night Market" on Srinakarin Road, nearby Seacon Square?

@audaciousnomadalready posted the following:

 

"The original Rot Fai market in Srinikarin has not been slated for closure. So there's always that...whenever things are back to normal."

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, calbts2 said:

From 2013 until about 2017 - A fantastic night market for eating, drinking, and shopping primarily attended by local Thais and expats with few tourists.

 

2017-2019 - Ratchada Train Market and Esplanade shopping mall taken over nightly by annoying, rude, and loud Chinese tour groups which created hellish tour bus traffic and pollution on the street, an overcrowded MRT station every night, and a ruined ambiance/atmosphere of what the market once was.

I don't know when I was there the first time. Probably 2017. I really liked it. And my Thai gf loved that place.

And then it got worse and worse. Absolutely super crowded with many many tourist groups. Horrible!

I won't miss when I think about how it was pre-Covid.

[harada]

Yet another victim of greed, very sad, I’d be interested to know who owns this prime piece of real estate.

 

[kingstonkid]

Unfortunately this is happening all over the world.  Some call it progress.

 

I am not one of them.

 

A lot of markets and areas I am sure have hurting owners and tenants or owners that want to build huge buildings to make more money.

 

I am watching to see what happens with Siam square and patpong now that there is less tourism and less businesses with deep pockets.

[hotchilli]

On 7/31/2021 at 4:45 PM, burner2014 said:

I can't agree more. Since 2017 this market was trash due to the fact that you were surrounded by only Chinese group tours.

Still I have great memories with this market especially during New Years Eve pre-drinking.

Originally it was a great place to visit, but alas as most things Thai it grew to be a monster.

It became the last place I wanted to be.

[MrJ2U]

Hopefully whatever replacement there is doesn't turn out like  Pryutt's  "cleansed and organized"  version of khao San road.

 

That chaotic, noisy, and inexpensive place is what tourists come for when visiting Bangkok. (Certain tourists anyway).

 

 

[buick]

i took people there just so they could see the hordes.  when you exited the mall in the back, there was a little shop with a 'terrace' to the left, slightly above grade.  it was a great spot to drink beer and watch the hordes arrive.  they would come through those mall exit doors two abreast and as many as 400 at a time.  just two by two by two going on and on and on.  you'd see people try to enter the mall against the flow, impossible.  i saw people knocked down.  people i took there still talk about it, one of their most vivid memories of bangkok.

 

i prefer western food and originally i had no problem finding a good meal there.  but it got to where it was beer only for me. 

 

i must say i saw a similar thing happen to walking street in pattaya btwn 2006 and 2009.  ALOT of changes during that period.

[Burma Bill]

On 7/31/2021 at 2:31 PM, Jonathan Fairfield said:

speculating the huge land plot has been sold off for development.

When I started to read this post I immediately thought of "prime real estate"! Although I do not know Bangkok, maybe more condos and shopping malls - Chinese???

Edited August 2, 2021 by Burma Bill
additional information

[Thingamabob]

Many more to follow. Only the  black economy doing well.

[PuaSai]

On 7/31/2021 at 11:10 AM, Kinnock said:

At least will create space for another condo building and shopping mall to help with the chronic shortage of such facilities in Bangkok.

Ironically that was my first thought as well.  Bangkok surely needs more condo buildings at the least... ????

[NativeBob]

Strange... 
Been there since Tokyu Ratchada turn into haunted house, Merchant Court had a 3 different names and instead of Esplanade it was a great fresh beer entertainment venue). Hint: Srivara Mansion 2
And what they did with that space is surely horrible and disgusting.

PS: any flashbacks of Soi 4 --> almost opposite? 

[sanuk711]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:43 PM, Thingamabob said:

Many more to follow. Only the  black economy doing well.

I thought Markets were the Black economy....................

[zhounan]

No Chinese Tourism = No Ratchada Night Market.

 

One stand is 25.000 baht / month...

Edited August 3, 2021 by zhounan