No alcohol in restaurants is "crazy" says restaurateur - allowing music is not the answer

[webfact]

Picture: Sanook

 

A leading restaurateur who runs AREA 11 has slammed the CCSA decision to allow live music in restaurants but continue to ban alcohol.

 

Only five musicians are allowed and they must all wear face masks all the time except the vocalist.

 

They are allowed to not wear a mask when singing. 

 

"Jor Jaan", reported Sanook, said allowing music was not going to make any difference to him and many others.

 

Alcohol was the key and that was still banned.

 

Bands still had to be paid for and without the alcohol rules changing it was all pointless as it would not draw custom.

 

"No alcohol means no one is buying ice, or mixers, or french fries - these all are ordered as accompaniments," he said.

 

Only millionaire owners could afford it.

 

"It's crazy to continue to ban alcohol," he said.

 

He noted that most people continued to order from home where they could enjoy a beer or glass of wine with their meal. 

 

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[garygooner]

Couldn't agree more. Allow alcohol in restaurants. 

[cyril sneer]

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

He noted that most people continued to order from home where they could enjoy a beer or glass of wine with their meal. 

yep

[DrJack54]

CCSA is just playing a big game.

 

We have nice restaurant with live music few doors up. It's not small.

Spoke to Thai manager on Friday.

Wanted to show support and go there.

His reply...."We will not open untill closing is minimum 11pm and can serve alcohol". 

 

The whole thing is a joke. 

 

[Johnny Mac]

Draconian laws from a communist regime who utterly despise alcohol/bars, etc, and couldn't care less if Thai people go broke. An utter disgrace.

[petermik]

6 hours ago, garygooner said:

Couldn't agree more. Allow alcohol in restaurants. 

No cannot....open a bottle of alcohol and covid genie emerges spreading death and destruction to all......

[AhFarangJa]

27 minutes ago, Johnny Mac said:

Draconian laws from a communist regime who utterly despise alcohol/bars, etc, and couldn't care less if Thai people go broke. An utter disgrace.

Hit the nail squarely on the head Sir. Unfortunately until all the dinosaurs in Government become extinct we are stuck with it.

[smedly]

Either fully open the country up or don't bother - if you cannot open to locals how on earth can you open to foreigners, and your anti alcohol CCSA dinosaurs along with anti drink Prayuth should all resign, it is clear you have no clue what you are doing, it is embarrassing to watch

 

you may personally have views on alcohol consumption but you need to realise that it is an important integrated part of tourism and many social and entertainment structures, you cannot stop it so get your heads out of the sand and face reality

 

Get the country open again - you claim 70% of people will be fully vaccinated by 15th Oct, lets plan for that in Hua Hin and Pattaya and get things fully open to locals first, increase testing in those areas to monitor the situation then if all is good open to foreign tourists 1st Nov, this cannot go on forever, and drop the anti-alcohol nonsense - stop trying to force your personal ideals on the rest of the population - keep it to yourself

[Nickelbeer]

Prerequisite for a Prime Ministership should be experience owning a restaurant.

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

Oct 1 Phuket: Bars, Bar Girls, Live Music, Alcohol all Legalized & Available. No Nightclubs yet.

Mask Wearing was “optional” in Bangla Road last ( first) night ……..

[stigar]

44 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

CCSA is just playing a big game.

 

We have nice restaurant with live music few doors up. It's not small.

Spoke to Thai manager on Friday.

Wanted to show support and go there.

His reply...."We will not open untill closing is minimum 11pm and can serve alcohol". 

 

The whole thing is a joke. 

 

i sat and took a drink 1am in sukumvit 7/1

 

[Johnny Mac]

13 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Hit the nail squarely on the head Sir. Unfortunately until all the dinosaurs in Government become extinct we are stuck with it.

To think that we chose to come and live here. 

[4MyEgo]

57 minutes ago, webfact said:

He noted that most people continued to order from home where they could enjoy a beer or glass of wine with their meal. 

Actually we never eat takeaway, wife loves to cook at home albeit it I like to go to a few favourite restaurants when she agrees to for her to take some time off out of the kitchen and her routine so we can watch her chill, sink back a couple of tall bottles and then go home feeling satisfied.

 

We haven't been to a restaurant for wow, as long as they have banned alcohol, and until they do bring alcohol back to the tables, we will just have to stay home and watch more restaurants go bust as we drive by every now and again.

 

Sad, but it is the reality of a few tea toddlers running the country.

[ezzra]

No alcohol in restaurants is "crazy" says restaurateur...

This things has gone far, far beyond crazy, in the annals of history books this will remember as a complete lose of directions and one big cock up perpetrated mainly by the clueless who thought they knew how to mange a colossal problem of a pandemic...

[alien365]

Agreed. I had a really nice Italian last night but no wine was allowed. I know it kept the bill below a thousand but the dining experience was incomplete. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

Nice to see we're all on the same page about alcohol now, and the teetotalers are mostly gone from these threads. They certainly chose a heck of a country to come do that in. I certainly didn't choose to live in Saudi Arabia.

[DrJack54]

16 minutes ago, stigar said:

i sat and took a drink 1am in sukumvit 7/1

 

What's the point?

Some small crappy bar in 7/1.

Perhaps beer in a cup. 

[Gandtee]

55 minutes ago, Johnny Mac said:

Draconian laws from a communist regime who utterly despise alcohol/bars, etc, and couldn't care less if Thai people go broke. An utter disgrace.

I wonder what is happening in the military's Officers Mess? 'Steward! Just leave the bottle of Black Label on the table with the ice. Just make sure you keep topping me up."????

[RafPinto]

The last one should already know it by now.

 

They do not want anymore Thailand to be seen as fun and drink.

If there are no more bars, night clubs etc. open , no more easy girls to be had and if there is no more alcohol to be served, a certain group of tourists won't come anymore.

I think they want to achieve this.

[spidermike007]

The CCSA continues to prove on a daily basis how lost in space they are, how out of their element they are, how in over their heads they are, and how extreme their denial of science based facts is. 

 

Beer does not cause Covid. Neither does wine. But, prohibiting acholol sales does sabotage an industry and contribute to the continued destruction of the nation's economy. 

 

Nobody has ever defined the danger of alcohol intelligible, but as it related to Covid. I can understand crowded bars, and clubs, where you have to shout to be heard, and in the process you release alot of spittle. But a restaurant? Why? It only appears to be an additional hardship for hundreds of thousands who are only trying to make a living, and patrons who are only trying to let off a little steam and enjoy some much needed recreation.

 

If anything, allowing drinking in restaurants brings down the national crime rates!

 

At this time, the nation would really benefit if there were some intelligent and compassionate adults in the rooms, where these decisions are being made.

 

Wow is Thailand with leaders like Prayuth, Anutin and Phiphat. Where do they find these clowns? 

[daveAustin]

Drop alcohol ban

Drop masks

Drop government 

Grow up

Open up

Move on

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Bands still had to be paid for and without the alcohol rules changing it was all pointless as it would not draw custom.

Good point, bands need payment, it's not enough to allow them to play and expect the upturn in custom to cover the costs.

Time CCSA/government got their act together.

[ikke1959]

the whole alcohol law is crazy and yes indeed no alcohol in restaurants allowed but singers without a mask who can not sing but scream is no problem... The Governemnt should enter the 21st century and educate and abolish this terrible alcohol law. Not for me. I never drink when I have to drive, but for everyone who want have a glass at their meal... Stupid laws

[spidermike007]

5 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

Drop alcohol ban

Drop masks

Drop government 

Grow up

Open up

Move on

Yes. Admit this is neither the Bubonic plague, nor the Zombie Apocalypse! 

 

Man up! 

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, stigar said:

i sat and took a drink 1am in sukumvit 7/1

 

There are loads of restaurants in this area of Sukhumvit openly serving alcohol, and even a few, more discreet, bars with a lot of desperate "hostesses" looking for friends! 

[AhFarangJa]

1 hour ago, Johnny Mac said:

To think that we chose to come and live here. 

I hear what you say, but the Thailand I decided to settle in 27 years ago is a vert far cry from the Thailand we have now. However, I have a great family here, and am just making the best of a bad lot ( Government)

[tomacht8]

It is ridiculous that those responsible for pandemic control are busy with how many musicians are allowed to stand on stage and when the singer can take off his mask. As if a band with 7 musicians is more dangerous than a band with 5 musicians. This is already brain-burned.

[JetsetBkk]

1 hour ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

Oct 1 Phuket: Bars, Bar Girls, Live Music, Alcohol all Legalized & Available. No Nightclubs yet.

Mask Wearing was “optional” in Bangla Road last ( first) night ……..

Yes, had my litre of beer + free buffet at Rossovivo last night. <burp>

 

[RafPinto]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

What's the point?

Some small crappy bar in 7/1.

Perhaps beer in a cup. 

555

I only saw it now.

First, I thought you spoke about sitting in front of a 7/11

[Caldera]

Allowing live music while keeping the alcohol ban in place must have been one of the most ridiculous CCSA decisions even by their standards.

 

What's currently in place might help keep the shopping mall restaurants afloat, but popular places for dining out make most of their money from drinks.