I once had dreams of being a pattaya bar owner,mind you this was over 25 years ago when things were pumping .

All these things i was going to do,buy condos etc and im glad i never ever did.

 

Many say its the BIB you had to be careful of when running a bar...Fast forward and yesterday i listened to a podcast of a former well known pattaya bar owner who despite his "power" talked how he was threatened by Aussie criminals bikies  and the trouble he had to go to to protect his family.

 

 

I still have dreams of one day retiring and buying a bar although as i get older and come to my senses it would have to be more of a "hobby" than profit.

 

Im sure all of us ,yes all of us have dreamed of owning a girlie bar but never will.

 

I was looking at my diary of 2004 where i went to a go go bar in Walking street at 3 million baht back then,glad i never did,what was i thinking ?

yet so many guys were saying back then to buy , pattaya was going to be the world class city with casino etc but never did 

 

 

 

Never wanted one, happy to be a punter. A life less complex and all that.

8 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I still have dreams of one day retiring and buying a bar although as i get older and come to my senses it would have to be more of a "hobby" than profit.

If you wanted to own one as a 'hobby', then perhaps this would be a good time, with many on sale, while the future (in regards to profitability) is uncertain. 

9 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Never wanted one, happy to be a punter. A life less complex and all that.

Pros and cons. Cons would include constantly worrying about gangs or police asking for bribes, threatening to close you down, one way or another, staff helping themselves from the till, etc. - So the few pros would easily be outweighted...

OP - At this rate you'll never pull the trigger and stop working. Plenty of shophouses for rent where you can start a business and live upstairs.

Easy to set up, hard to make a profit with added "expenses", rent, key money, pay-offs, protection, possible extortion, finding the right managers/workers, legal & illegal hoops to jump through.

It crossed my mind 30 years ago with a few other things but having reliance on tourism quickly squashed any thoughts.

43 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

owning a girlie bar

Been there, done that, a small Gogo bar on Soi Diamond. Great fun but not a lot of profit from it, and there were plenty of headaches as well as laughs. I eventually decided that it wasn't worth the amount of time and effort it was costing me and sold it. It was a great way to learn first-hand some in-depth insights into Thai culture and life, rather than listening to the nonsense a lot of people spew on social media, and I made quite a few friends among the other bar owners and Thai staff around the Walking Street area. All in all it was a great experience to have living in a city like Pattaya, but I was lucky in that I was doing it for fun and could easily offload it when I got bored and wanted to. If the bar was your main or even sole source of income it would probably be FAR more stressful.

There are less complicated and more hassle-free methods to lose money.

No bar dreams, but I did dream of owning a Soapy massage emporium.

If anyone has a spare 470Mbht to lend me.

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

OP - At this rate you'll never pull the trigger and stop working. Plenty of shophouses for rent where you can start a business and live upstairs.

i know but after listening to that podacst of that bar owner saying he was threatened im scared,if they done that to him they are not going to be scared of elderly farang bar owners,but they probaly wouldnt go for a single bar owner who has a hobby hopefully anyway

Starting with a dream ..... ending as a nightmare i would think .....only for the few.... not for the many a success story 

I had 40% stake in a Nana Plaza bar many years ago.  I was the resident night guy, 8pm to 2am. 

Quickly discovered I hated chatting with drunks but what bothered me most was as the bar earned more than 60% of it's income from bar-fines, "Pimp" was now part of my resume.  Got out after 6 months.

Not a good idea.
 

Jimmy Kelly a “hitherto decent lad from Watford” (so he was no Ned Kelly) fed up with being a “postie”, takes redundancy money and heads for Thailand.
 

A “friend” advises him to start a bar. Unfortunately the initial success goes to his head, and then it’s downhill all the way. A good example of hubris (see quote from, and link to Merrim Webster dictionary below)

 

Lady journalist interviews Jimmy Kelly:
https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2019/01/24/thailand-uk-man-life-bar-koh-samui-thai-prison-jimmy-kelly-drugs-prostitution-chang/

 

A short excerpt from the dramatized documentary and also ‘stills’ from Daily Star:

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/banged-up-abroad-jimmy-kelly-17147394

 

 

His brother had to use his life savings to get Jimmy transferred back to Britain, where he could “enjoy” his porridge in one of Her Majesty’s establishments.

 

At least he lived to tell the tale, and is now happy to be a darts champion in his brother’s pub.

 

hubris defined:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hubris

 

“Hubris Comes From Ancient Greece (quote ^^^)

‘English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of his or her mortality.”

 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, silver sea said:

A “friend” advises him to start a bar. Unfortunately the initial success goes to his head, and then it’s downhill all the way. A good example of hubris (see quote from, and link to Merrim Webster dictionary below)

"Hubris", thinking a woman was genuine.

Last thing I'd dream of, I've often wondered what the attraction is, i think it helps if an alcoholic or pre-alcoholic

10 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Last thing I'd dream of, I've often wondered what the attraction is, i think it helps if an alcoholic or pre-alcoholic

No way could I deal with drunks everyday.  Why I never visit bars, let alone want to own one.  

 

If an alcoholic, then would be the way to go.  Although ... drug dealers doctrine ... never use your product, so owning may be counter productive in so many ways.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

"Hubris", thinking a woman was genuine.

Yes, she was an important part of it. Back in England, he felt he was a “nobody”. The yaba (crazy medicine) he was taking and selling, made him believe that he was now a “somebody”. His blind arrogance had made him too big for his boots. The woman was the hinge in the door that smacked him in the face with the reality (30 year prison sentence)

 

In 2011, he had been given the equivalent of 1,650,000 baht in redundancy money, but in 2017, his brother Gary had to use his life savings (the equivalent of 4,200,000 baht) to get him out of the Thai prison and back to Britain.

 

Owning and running a bar in Thailand is not a good idea.

4 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

dreams of being a pattaya bar owner

I've had nightmares of being a bar owner in pattaya. 

 

Pattaya is not for working

It's for drinking, fun, relaxing, being with a beautiful, soft, sweet smelling young lady. 

 

I've worked in Thailand, Songkla, offshore. Not an issue, you're away from the party times.

Night before crew change can get out of control at times. 

 

Two sides to running a bar.

The drinking side and the stressful side.

I prefer to stay on the drinking side.

Bar owner No ????

Millionaire yes  ????

5 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Many say its the BIB you had to be careful of when running a bar...Fast forward and yesterday i listened to a podcast of a former well known pattaya bar owner who despite his "power" talked how he was threatened by Aussie criminals bikies  and the trouble he had to go to to protect his family.

the farang petty criminals are by far the worst, and Pattaya is a breeding ground for them

 

do you have the link to the Podcast? I think I might known the bar owner you mention, and would love to hear him and his stories on that podcast

 

10 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Two sides to running a bar.

The drinking side and the stressful side.

I prefer to stay on the drinking side.

renting instead of owning comes to mind ????

 

or

 

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, heu or something like that ????

No sympathy for the pimps who pretend to be  bar owners and are still paying rent etc to the Thais. 

The lack of punters (in their words) means it's all over now. How much you want for that pool table now?

Have a nice high season.

Schadenfreude baby. 

The last thing I wanted to have. What a nightmare.

Doesn't this thought race throguh the mind of every first timer, 2 week millionaire farang who goes to Thailand????

 

Only in a nightmare.  Cash business where your employees steal you blind,, water down the alcohol and steal a portion of it.  Horrible working hours and in many countries huge liability if anyone you served is involved in an accident.  

Those visions of being a bar owner like Ted Danson on Cheers are just for TV.  I would suggest you talk to a few bar owners for their first hand experience before planking down any money. 

You know what they say about making a small fortune in Thailand...start with a big fortune and open a bar......

7 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Im sure all of us ,yes all of us have dreamed of owning a girlie bar but never will.

I never had that dream, I must weird...????

7 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Im sure all of us ,yes all of us have dreamed of owning a girlie bar but never will.

 

Err, no.