Thai Restaurant Operators Ask Government to Unlock Alcohol Sale Hours

[Ralf001]

Nice if they would allow service stations to sell again.

Thinking of buying a sewing machine so would be great to slam a few frothies whilst the thing is charging.

 

[riclag]

23 hours ago, proton said:

In wine connection the other week- no wine allowed after 2PM, but could have gone over the road and smoked weed all afternoon!

Spot on . No rhyme or reason to that Thai logic! The substances are both mind altering.

 

 

[josephbloggs]

4 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Nice if they would allow service stations to sell again.

Thinking of buying a sewing machine so would be great to slam a few frothies whilst the thing is charging.

 

Never had you down as a sewer. Do you also do knitting?

[spidermike007]

8 hours ago, Seppius said:

 

It was supposed to stop teenagers from buying when they come out of school, I seem to remember it was not enforced till Taksin made it enforced'

 

 

"My short answer to your question in overview: High school teenagers are usually let out around 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM before their parents. Teenagers tend to resort to the alcohol beverage at their social gathering without the supervision of their parents. The purpose is to prevent teenagers from purchasing any liquors in an effort when their parents are still at work"

 

There is a thread on Quora about it

https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Thailand-ban-the-sale-of-alcohol-between-2-and-5-p-m

So I guess the question is has it been effective? Like the failed war on drugs, has it prevented anybody from drinking? ever? 

[jacko45k]

20 hours ago, Moonlover said:

 

Not even there. I spent 15 years in KSA and was never short wine, beer and spirits. Nearly all of it home produced of course.

Yes I am quite experienced of KSA myself..... but they have successfully restricted alcohol and no gangster wars like it caused in the USA

[Sweet Swede]

It is a joke. You can buy booze and beer at any time at small shops both in the city and in the villages. The ones in the city, bribes the cops. Some years ago you could by any time, but had to buy at least 10 liter of alcoholic fluid, but they forbid that also.

[JemJem]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:48 AM, VBF said:

Perhaps I misunderstand this but I've frequently gone into bars of varying sorts in Pattaya in the afternoons and never been refused service of a beer or liquor drink. There's no attempt to hide the service - some of the bars are open air or right on the beach road.

 

Some of them also sell food so could be defined as restaurants.

 

I've equally frequently seen the fridges in 7/11 etc locked closed in the afternoons. 

 

So is it just restaurants who are supposed not to sell alcohol between 2 and 5pm?

 

Not all these places can be openly flouting the law even in Pattaya...can they?

 

Also, the article says it's a 50-year old law, but I'm tolerably certain that I recall it being introduced in the eighties.

 

Confused....me..... YES! 

 

Yes, I am confused to some degree as well. But, I am 99 percent sure it wasn't even in effect in the nineties because I was living in Bangkok in most of that decade, including the late 90's,and I had no trouble buying beer anytime anywhere during daytime. I remember it going in effect sometime in the early 00's.

 

One thing for sure is all places like 7-11's definitely obey this rule, while for restaurants and restaurant/pubs, the situation is confusing. 

[josephbloggs]

24 minutes ago, JemJem said:

Yes, I am confused to some degree as well. But, I am 99 percent sure it wasn't even in effect in the nineties because I was living in Bangkok in most of that decade, including the late 90's,and I had no trouble buying beer anytime anywhere during daytime. I remember it going in effect sometime in the early 00's.

 

One thing for sure is all places like 7-11's definitely obey this rule, while for restaurants and restaurant/pubs, the situation is confusing. 

Yeah, I have been here since 1995 and it definitely wasn't in effect then. It started getting enforced under Thaksin and Purachai in the early 2000's along with other genius ideas like not being able to buy alcohol at service stations. Even today there are 7-11's on the frontage road off the Rama 9 motorway that don't sell booze (even though they are not connected to the motorway) whereas one around the corner from them can as it is deemed off the main road. Ludicrous. 

The mighty Thaksin also closed petrol stations nationwide at midnight to "save energy". Brilliant!

The 2pm to 5pm thing is the most illogical of all though - at least there is some logic about not selling at service stations. Every single pub in Bangkok can sell all day, some restaurants can, some can't. No shops or supermarkets can, although Villa used to ignore it but eventually they stopped too. On Thonglor you have three places in a row: HOBs no alcohol 2pm to 5pm, She Bar no alcohol 2pm to 5pm, but Mellow sells all day. Who knows how it works.....

[VBF]

2 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Yeah, I have been here since 1995 and it definitely wasn't in effect then. It started getting enforced under Thaksin and Purachai in the early 2000's along with other genius ideas like not being able to buy alcohol at service stations. Even today there are 7-11's on the frontage road off the Rama 9 motorway that don't sell booze (even though they are not connected to the motorway) whereas one around the corner from them can as it is deemed off the main road. Ludicrous. 

The mighty Thaksin also closed petrol stations nationwide at midnight to "save energy". Brilliant!

The 2pm to 5pm thing is the most illogical of all though - at least there is some logic about not selling at service stations. Every single pub in Bangkok can sell all day, some restaurants can, some can't. No shops or supermarkets can, although Villa used to ignore it but eventually they stopped too. On Thonglor you have three places in a row: HOBs no alcohol 2pm to 5pm, She Bar no alcohol 2pm to 5pm, but Mellow sells all day. Who knows how it works.....

The uncharitable might suggest that you look to see who really owns Mellow, and do they have a "tea pot"? 🙄

[josephbloggs]

6 hours ago, VBF said:

The uncharitable might suggest that you look to see who really owns Mellow, and do they have a "tea pot"? 🙄

It is very close to a certain police station. but it is just outside of the Penny's Balcony complex that contains She Bar and HOBs. Maybe that block only has a restaurant license and Mellow has a bar license. I have no idea, although what you are implying could also well be true - I have no idea who owns it in reality.

The previous independent owner of HOBs was in business with a senior man in uniform and was, let's say, "bought out" by them, so it seems weird why they don't have the same leeway that Mellow does, unless it has since changed hands again (quite possible).

[kingstonkid]

On 1/16/2024 at 4:20 PM, proton said:

 

No there is nothing paranoid about being anti islam, it's common sense. Where ever Islam spreads oppression, misery, trouble and conflict follow. Sharia does ban booze, Islam is anti life, anti freedom and anti fun.

Have you ever lived in a Muslim country?  Yes, Islam restricts what people can do, BUT I think if you look at Christian countries, you also see oppression, misery, trouble, and conflict.  

 

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, when followed by radical extremism, are problems.  

 

However, when you live according to things and live a moderate life, then you find peace, and the religions are not bad. 

 

There are many Muslim people living in Western society who have no issues and get along great with others.

 

Remember that a lot of the issues in early society were caused by the radical beliefs of Christians who felt that unless you believed and lived a true Christian life, you were evil.

[kingstonkid]

On 1/16/2024 at 5:31 PM, hotandsticky said:

 

You seem to have a very narrow view of life.

The challenge is that the Government and OLD GUARD want to have control.  It has been that way since the start of the last century. 

Consider the education system.  It does not deal with any outside information or challenge students unless they are elite.  The system is still the same as it was when they started educating.  The original schools were only to teach students of government employees how to do a job and replace their parents.  NO MORE NO LESS

 

Schools now are only teaching students enough to fill the jobs in Thailand and protect those jobs for Thais.  There are a few that will go on to Western schools, but they are usually the elite and are going to replace their parents or network to improve the family business.

 

GETTING BACK TO 2-5 

 

If you take a look around the big cities or tourist areas, you will see that there is no 2-5 restriction.  The only areas that have that restriction are in areas where there are a lot of Thai workers and not so much drinking tourism.

 

Walk around the Pattaya Beach Road area, and you will see nothing but open bars with people drinking at 10 am.  Same with NANA 

Edited January 18 by kingstonkid

[VBF]

4 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

Have you ever lived in a Muslim country?  Yes, Islam restricts what people can do, BUT I think if you look at Christian countries, you also see oppression, misery, trouble, and conflict.  

 

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, when followed by radical extremism, are problems.  

 

However, when you live according to things and live a moderate life, then you find peace, and the religions are not bad. 

 

There are many Muslim people living in Western society who have no issues and get along great with others.

 

Remember that a lot of the issues in early society were caused by the radical beliefs of Christians who felt that unless you believed and lived a true Christian life, you were evil.

May I say that is one of the fairest and most balanced views of religion I've seen for a while.

 

I've lived in a Muslim society and  predominantly Christian ones and grew up amongst a lot of Jewish people.

 

I'm no religious bigot, in fact I'm a complete agnostic and have neither belief nor disbelief in any of them - my view is "if it works for you, great, but leave me out of that particular discussion, please don't proselytise  and don't abuse it to create problems for others"

 

All 3 religions that you mention theoretically believe in the same things - the Bible, Koran and Talmud are very similar - yes I have read parts of all (in English)

BUT.... when politicians and extremists get hold of them, the true nature of them vanishes - which is a facet that, again, all 3 of those religions share.

 

[ripstanley]

On 1/16/2024 at 8:58 AM, jesimps said:

I don't mind the afternoon restriction because I'm napping then. It's the morning one that gets me. We always like to shop early morning to avoid the crowds, but if I need to stock up on my booze, I have to make another trip to the local grog  shop after 11am.

Any shops in a petrol station precinct cannot get a licence to sell alcohol.

[bristolgeoff]

Make sense tourist thais doing something.Having a drink in the afternoon or restaurant.Silly rule no sales between 2 and 5.relax this rule businesses survive and people happy they can do it if they want