English-style food is still the norm in Soi Buakhao.

 

By Barry Kenyon

 

Everyone agrees that Pattaya is evolving into something different, even if nobody is sure what that will be. However, the resort’s downtown Soi Buakhao district, sometimes over-simplified as Little Britain, is proving highly resistant to change. Many of the bars, clubs and gogos retain English-sounding names, whilst fish and chips on a Friday and roast beef on a Sunday are the dominant cafe and restaurant themes. There are between 500 and 1,000 mostly small units of enjoyment in the Soi Buakhao and L.K. Metro vicinity, depending on where you draw the boundaries.

In the aptly named UK Massage Parlour, Khun May sums up, “I’d say that 70 percent of our customers are Brits and the rest Americans and Europeans. You don’t yet see many Indians or Chinese in this district precisely because they feel in a minority.” Surprisingly, there’s only one Indian restaurant, Tikka Center, on the actual strip even though there are dozens in nearby areas. A manager at the popular residential Diana Estate said, “The vast majority of our renters and owners are still Europeans, not much different from 30 years ago.”

 

Unlike Pattaya’s Walking Street, Little Britain is busy during the day with Thai markets selling everything from exotic fruit and vegetables to second-hand clothes and car accessories. There are no pedestrian footpaths and the traffic chaos is virtually 24/7. The most popular daytime bars are those with a frontage overlooking the fumes as elderly expats in groups recall their younger days or talk of recent conquests. Beers start at a knockdown 55 baht (1.2 pounds) and a single room with aircon can be as cheap as 500 baht (11 pounds) if you know how to bargain in off-season.

 

That’s not to say that the scene is static. The nighteries are not as busy as in the pre-covid era and for sale and for rent signs are noticeable in the side streets. Businesses regularly open and then close or change hands. Part of the famous Treetown Complex is being demolished to make way, some say, for a plush condominium. 

 

Full story: Pattaya Mail 2024-08-26

 

 

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

Everyone agrees that Pattaya is evolving into something different, even if nobody is sure what that will be.

Evolving..... give me a break...

It is taking it's time about it this evolution!

I kinda feel if soi 6 survives, Pattaya is still there. 

I remember the writer selling Embassy letters outside Pattaya Immigration office when the Embassy still offered services to ex-pats.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

downtown Soi Buakhao district, sometimes over-simplified as Little Britain,

We always can be found in the classier areas. 
 

With the unappreciative locals in Spain making us feel not welcome let’s hope that Little Britain in Pattaya goes from strength to strength. 

Soi 6 is also mostly British run. 

If that's all they have to live for, Fish and chips on Fridays, roast beef on Sundays and talking about their conquests of whores that are way past their sell by dates, I am so glad not to be part of that cityscape.

 

What a miserable existence.

 

 

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

I remember the writer selling Embassy letters outside Pattaya Immigration office when the Embassy still offered services to ex-pats.

 

He would have been selling Embassy services on behalf of the British Embassy.

 

I remember him being an outstanding Honorary British Consul for Brits with problems in Pattaya, and he always went that extra mile.

 

That's probably why they gave him an MBE.

4 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

If that's all they have to live for, Fish and chips on Fridays, roast beef on Sundays and talking about their conquests of whores that are way past their sell by dates, I am so glad not to be part of that cityscape.

 

What a miserable existence.

 

 

There are a few positives there compared to living out one's retirement in a Wetherspoons in Rhyl as it pours outside!

Fly thousands of miles on holiday to a beautiful, exotic destination with an amazing culture, just to get p*ssed up, eat fish 'n' chips and Sunday roast.

Oh dear !! 

58 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

If that's all they have to live for, Fish and chips on Fridays, roast beef on Sundays and talking about their conquests of whores that are way past their sell by dates, I am so glad not to be part of that cityscape.

 

What a miserable existence.

 

 

hot roast dinners in the tropics ...why would you?

53 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

There are a few positives there compared to living out one's retirement in a Wetherspoons in Rhyl as it pours outside!

as opposed to living out one's retirement in the same name place in Pattaya?

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

It is taking it's time about it this evolution!

I kinda feel if soi 6 survives, Pattaya is still there. 

Nah, it´s quite normal time span. Even Darwin was talking about millions of years.

56 minutes ago, CockneyGit said:

a beautiful, exotic destination with an amazing culture

 

That was good for a laugh....

The whore scene is getting older and getting worned out. Yes, it will fade (and is fading already in many ways compared to whatbit was even about 15 years ago...), just like it did in other places (France for example, with Paris in particular but not only, was the whore house of the western world for decades until after WW2. Then it just died off. Pigalle still retained some of that until the early 90s and rhen, bye bye...BTW "Go Go bars" or A- go go, are a french creation). 

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

If that's all they have to live for, Fish and chips on Fridays, roast beef on Sundays and talking about their conquests of whores that are way past their sell by dates, I am so glad not to be part of that cityscape.

 

What a miserable existence.

 

 

C'mon you left out watching EPL on weekends. Go Arsenun!

Or rugby if you're into crotch sniffers...

Pattaya is the world's largest Brothel...and that is a good thing, because a lot of Western Men are trapped in a nightmare of "sex less marriage", entitled women, spoiled kids and excessive taxes.

 

In other words, Pattaya is heaven for them.

sleaze capital!

Birds, booze and banter remain the Pattaya attraction for AGEING and Elderly Brits

 

There fixed it

 

Quote

“The vast majority of our renters and owners are still Europeans, not much different from 30 years ago.”

 
that is because they are the same people as 30 years ago,

 

Quote

 

FFS.

doesn't he just look like a man with his fingers on the pulse:

  

Pattaya isn't a Brits only destination. Naklua caters mainly for Germanic mongers, Naklua for Scandinavians. Aussies and Yanks, Canuks and  Kiwis are so likeable they can fit in anywhere.

1 minute ago, n00dle said:

Birds, booze and banter remain the Pattaya attraction for AGEING and Elderly Brits

 

There fixed it

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, champers said:

Pattaya isn't a Brits only destination. Naklua caters mainly for Germanic mongers, Naklua for Scandinavians. Aussies and Yanks, Canuks and  Kiwis are so likeable they can fit in anywhere.

 

And all of them approaching elderly status.

 

nobody sub 40 gives a <deleted> about pattaya whores enough to travel for them. 

Just now, n00dle said:

 

 

And all of them approaching elderly status.

 

nobody sub 40 gives a <deleted> about pattaya whores enough to travel for them. 

In case you hadn't noticed, the grey market is a growing one as people live longer and in the future many will retire earlier because AI will take their jobs.

2 minutes ago, champers said:

In case you hadn't noticed, the grey market is a growing one as people live longer and in the future many will retire earlier because AI will take their jobs.

 

has noting to do with what i am saying. That iteration of pattay appeals to a very specific shrinking demographic,

there simply aren't that many from later generations in queue for the barstools once they are vacant

23 minutes ago, Taboo2 said:

Pattaya is the world's largest Brothel...and that is a good thing, because a lot of Western Men are trapped in a nightmare of "sex less marriage", entitled women, spoiled kids and excessive taxes.

 

In other words, Pattaya is heaven for them.

 

   The dream of endless alcohol and sex soon becomes a night mare  

3 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

We always can be found in the classier areas. 
 

With the unappreciative locals in Spain making us feel not welcome let’s hope that Little Britain in Pattaya goes from strength to strength. 

Soi 6 is also mostly British run. 

 

Yes, there are a lot of English squatters living the dream as bar 'managers' on the Soi.

9 minutes ago, champers said:

In case you hadn't noticed, the grey market is a growing one as people live longer and in the future many will retire earlier because AI will take their jobs.

 

The 'grey' market is trending towards either silver or bald.

48 minutes ago, Taboo2 said:

Pattaya is the world's largest Brothel...and that is a good thing, because a lot of Western Men are trapped in a nightmare of "sex less marriage", entitled women, spoiled kids and excessive taxes.

 

In other words, Pattaya is heaven for them.

 

Hell for others, went in 94 hated it, gave it another go in 97 booked a week, left after one night. Not surprised many expats get depressed there and jump off balconies. It's a fools paradise where mugs from all countries never seem to catch on that most of the girls actually hate their boring guts, and who can blame them.  Punters deserve to be taken for as much as the women, not 'birds', can get out of them.

3 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

If that's all they have to live for, Fish and chips on Fridays, roast beef on Sundays and talking about their conquests of whores that are way past their sell by dates, I am so glad not to be part of that cityscape.

 

What a miserable existence.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

There are a few positives there compared to living out one's retirement in a Wetherspoons in Rhyl as it pours outside!

Or queuing for food handouts in Huyton.....

Bird viewing tours are available in Chiang Mai.

33 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   The dream of endless alcohol and sex soon becomes a night mare  

My interest in alcohol is about 2%, sex 10%. 

2 hours ago, CockneyGit said:

Fly thousands of miles on holiday to a beautiful, exotic destination with an amazing culture, just to get p*ssed up, eat fish 'n' chips and Sunday roast.

Oh dear !! 

Same can be said of many countries where tourists travel to.....