2 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Does not work.

 

The owner cooks the books or they act real rushed and confused, talk when your there, etc so you can’t review them properly and carefully.

The only real way to judge if a bar is successful is visit it at various times of the day and the year. I am sure not all the takings will be going through the till so an audit of the takings won’t mean a thing.

6 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Your post is spot on.

 

I will go to Philippines next year can't see any point coming back to Thailand again nowadays year after year .

 

It's getting too expensive 

 

Philippines is a step down, buddy. Now if you can’t afford Thailand give it a try. No free lunch. We are talking about a lot more trash, crime, unsanitary conditions, etc.

 

You won’t get something just like Thailand for cheaper, you will get cheaper!

33 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Does not work.

 

The owner cooks the books or they act real rushed and confused, talk when your there, etc so you can’t review them properly and carefully.

They usually have at least two sets of books.

One set for the accountant/Taxman etc to show just sufficient cash flow to sustain the Wages, SS and Tax payments etc and the real set which you never see.  They may well have a third pristine set for showing to potential buyers!

Milk on Soi Diamond seems to be still for sale, this was opened by Le Pub owner Mr Egg to sell from the off with a big markup, didn't go to plan it seems

On 7/30/2023 at 7:35 AM, jacko45k said:

Well I have a different opinion. In LK area today I saw quite a few bars under renovation. That indicates optimism for the future and high/peak seasons. Pulse, Pandoras and Champagne Club, plus a repurposed place I hope to see open soon, Fever A-Go-Go. This is on top of relatively new LK Angels and Las Vegas.

Exactly.  Every low season there are several bars closing: the ones that didn't do well in the previous high season. At least one of the bars pictured earlier in this topic was nearly always empty in February / March for whatever reason. Then, along comes high season and they either reopen or are converted to another bar, usually "same-same, but different". 

It's almost as predictable as the seasons!

10 hours ago, Andycoops said:

<snip>

Only a idiot would buy without doing due diligence.

I suggest that at least a third of people buying bars in Pattaya, Phuket etc do just that!

Buy for "emotional" reasons, thinking "wouldn't owning a bar be fun", or  "wouldn't it be easy money!"

A lot of them have never run any business anywhere, let alone a bar, then wonder why so many problems arise running an unfamiliar business in a foreign land.

 

To my knowledge, this has been happening for the last 30 years, probably longer. 

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Maybe doesn't need customers, always empty when i go down Soi 7

On the basis there seemed to be many who were prepared to ring the bell to buy his girls drinks when they weren't even in the country during Covid, judging by his expansion I think it's reasonable to think he's done well enough when they actually turned up in person when travel resumed.  It must take a bar attracting regular beers drinkers a lot of sales just to match the profit from one single bell ring for a round of ridiculously priced shots for the girls. It's the only business model that stacks up.

10 minutes ago, kinyara said:

On the basis there seemed to be many who were prepared to ring the bell to buy his girls drinks when they weren't even in the country during Covid, judging by his expansion I think it's reasonable to think he's done well enough when they actually turned up in person when travel resumed.  It must take a bar attracting regular beers drinkers a lot of sales just to match the profit from one single bell ring for a round of ridiculously priced shots for the girls. It's the only business model that stacks up.

He has 30k subscribers on YouTube, on his Sunday Live Show Sunday people from abroad buy shots for the bargirls, they end up p**** and cause mayhem, so he is making money there. He also makes income from memberships as well from his YouTube channel. If the government decide YouTubers based in Thailand need a Work Permit things could change and a few Pattaya YouTubers could be in the s*** as they rely on that for their income.

2 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

If by "laundry bar" you mean that its being used to launder money, please remember that people said the same about certain Indian restaurants Back in the Day. And then when Covid hit, those restaurants closed due to lack of business, which is not a thing in the money laundering business.

The Aussie pub on 11 in Sukhumvit closed over COVID too, and it was most certainly boiler room money, in fact many of their bars clsed over COVID, i reckon that has more to do with a dip in revenue to launder,  

8 hours ago, 1happykamper said:

Not just bars in Jomtian and Pattaya... many other types of business that flourish on tourists. 

 

Half the tourists now. 

 

Go go bars in Jomtian now... 4 that I know of. It's the same story all over Thailand....especially Bangkoks red light districts. 

 

End of an era 

I'd disagree that there are " half the tourists now ", monthly numbers are now running 75% of the same month back in 2019, with the absence of the less bar Pattaya bar oriented Chinese market being the single most important reason for the shortfall. If you're in a business type that catered/caters to the Chinese I'd agree you'll be doing badly based on less than 30% arrivals, not so for other traditional Pattaya markets like UK and Germany which have recovered well.

12 minutes ago, kinyara said:

I'd disagree that there are " half the tourists now ", monthly numbers are now running 75% of the same month back in 2019, with the absence of the less bar Pattaya bar oriented Chinese market being the single most important reason for the shortfall. If you're in a business type that catered/caters to the Chinese I'd agree you'll be doing badly based on less than 30% arrivals, not so for other traditional Pattaya markets like UK and Germany which have recovered well.

OK.. 52% of 2019. This year.. Chiang Mai... Bangkok and where I live in Pattaya show huge visible signs of much lower farangs there for any reason 

4 hours ago, Pattaya57 said:

I came back 21 Jan 2022, seem to remember all bars were open for me (don't visit go go's). Not sure why you think it was June 1?

Maybe I should have mentioned Go go's as that is what I'm referring too.  

 

Here is why I think it June 1:

Pattaya Bars get green light to reopen on June 1

 

I live in Pattaya and know that beer bars were open earlier than that. FYI, the mask mandate lasted until July 1.

 

 

3 hours ago, 1happykamper said:

OK.. 52% of 2019. This year.. Chiang Mai... Bangkok and where I live in Pattaya show huge visible signs of much lower farangs there for any reason 

No not 52% of 2019, the trend is clear even ignoring the huge disparity caused by the absence of Chinese :

 

2023 vs 2019

January - 58%

February - 59%

March - 64%

April - 68%

May - 74%

June - 74%

 

 

 

 

Do younger men go to gogo bars ? Or is it mostly an over 50s thing ? 

10 hours ago, JimTripper said:

Does not work.

 

The owner cooks the books or they act real rushed and confused, talk when your there, etc so you can’t review them properly and carefully.

That is why you insist on the books they provided to the tax department and make all calculations based on those figures. Being a cash busness, no doubt, the numbers listed are BELOW what they actually made.

4 hours ago, geisha said:

Do younger men go to gogo bars ? Or is it mostly an over 50s thing ? 

I see younger asians in agogos, they don't seem to go to bars, i don't blame them

3 hours ago, mstevens said:

That is why you insist on the books they provided to the tax department and make all calculations based on those figures. Being a cash busness, no doubt, the numbers listed are BELOW what they actually made.

Isn't that the point, how would you be able to tell which set of books they provide 

18 minutes ago, Pattaya57 said:

Isn't that the point, how would you be able to tell which set of books they provide 

When i see bars and agogos for sale on facebook not one i would consider doing well at the time

I've never run a business before and am a grumpy <deleted> that hates stupid people but I think opening a bar in Pattaya would be a good fit 

 

Any chance a death watch bar would give to me for free since they are obviously dead already by having to sell?

2 hours ago, Pattaya57 said:

Isn't that the point, how would you be able to tell which set of books they provide 

You ask for receipts they have from all filings with the Tax Department and you and your accountant physically accompany them to the Tax Department and get copies of all recent filings.

1 hour ago, mstevens said:

You ask for receipts they have from all filings with the Tax Department and you and your accountant physically accompany them to the Tax Department and get copies of all recent filings.

because the books a bar keeps for the Tax Department are 100% accurate.

On 7/31/2023 at 2:00 PM, BenStark said:

You mean like a laundry bar?

A laundromat that serves beer while cleaning your clothing, interesting concept. I like it.

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

A laundromat that serves beer while cleaning your clothing, interesting concept. I like it.

You'd get doolally watching all those machines spinning round.

They have no one to blame but themselves. With the slop the girls can't even dance to. The go go's on the Pattayalands, Sois 13/4, 13/3 sure were doing well. 

A go go like Rodeo Girls that was 

on the Pattayalands would do well today playing R&R with the girls dancing to Brown Sugar. 

The average age of a foreigner coming to Pattaya is 50+, I can never understand nor do I think some bar owners realise they don’t want their ears blasted by Thai music albeit we are in Thailand and at the same wondering why they have no customers. 

 

On 7/31/2023 at 10:31 PM, kinyara said:

No not 52% of 2019, the trend is clear even ignoring the huge disparity caused by the absence of Chinese :

 

2023 vs 2019

January - 58%

February - 59%

March - 64%

April - 68%

May - 74%

June - 74%

 

 

 

 

Where are you getting this information from? 

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

The average age of a foreigner coming to Pattaya is 50+, I can never understand nor do I think some bar owners realise they don’t want their ears blasted by Thai music albeit we are in Thailand and at the same wondering why they have no customers. 

 

Any Farang bar playing Thai music has given up. It means that there are no customers and the manager is drunk, asleep or away, giving the bargirls control of the music. They may understand that Thai music drives away customers but they are usually too drunk to care.

3 hours ago, morrobay said:

They have no one to blame but themselves. With the slop the girls can't even dance to. The go go's on the Pattayalands, Sois 13/4, 13/3 sure were doing well. 

that looks like 80s or 90s?

On 7/31/2023 at 1:39 AM, Jumbo1968 said:

Nick Dean has just opened his 3rd bar of 4th bar on Soi 7, it has capacity for 200 customers he said, good luck to him, being the ever pessimist I just can’t see where the customers are going to come from.

I think that will make it 4 plus the hotel, plus the share in the Indian restaurant and the large TV/advertising hoarding. 

 

Easy to see why - he learnt from Bryan Flowers - but adapted.

 

Whereas Bryan had "Pattaya Addicts" and "bar crawls" to drive business, Nick has his YouTube Channel NDTVI.

 

You would be amazed how much this works. A lot of businesses are now "social media channels" with the core business attached!

 

His "Sunday live broadcast" bring in donations and "drinks".

 

Similarly, Trevor from "Buzzin Pattaya" opened a Bar in Soi Pothole. I went a few Sundays back and I could just about get a seat. It was rammed!

 

You have to realise there are are hundreds of thousands of sad sacks who watch YouTube and say "I'm gonna go to that bar and barfine that girl!"

 

Right...I'm off to look at some bars for sale