The End Of An Era

[farangconnection]

Well, I guess this will be bad news to some 13,000 people and good news to around 20. The Surin provincial government in it's immense wisdom has decided that after 10 years, The Farang Connection is too close to the Wat to be attracting thousands of visitors and has withdrawn it's drink licence. Actually it has taken the drink licence off all pubs, restaurants and genaral dens of iniquety from everyone within 50 meters of a Temple. ( where of course in Europe a lot of the real good beers are brewed) Where will this madness stop? First, they ban the sale of alchohol on two of the busiest weekends of the year,( which should cut tourism by half) now come up with this ridiculous ruling. I am not even sure if it is just Surin or wether the ruling is nationwide. What do our members think?

[george]

Bad news indeed

Did you get that order in written? From what date is it effective?

[Prakanong]

Is there not a rule about no alcohol establishments withing a certain distance for both schools and Wats

Read about this a while ago somewhere

[sbk]

What are you going to do then? Move?

[farangconnection]

We have until January 31st...............................apparantly it doesn't matter until then. But one thing is sure..............we will keep running, even without booze. We have already taken the option of the place across the road, which used to be Brads diner. The big problem there though is with the sun. I think what we will do is try to run two places and concentrate with the shop ands bakery across the road. One place for boozers and one for non-alkies. ( Jeez, that means Yorky and Elsie will never come near us again) One idea I'm toying with is to set up what we used to call in the mob ' A pig's bar' where drinks are rock bottom prices. Of course, I'll have to fork out for mats for the customers to sit on. Most of my mob wouldn't mind that though. In the words of our good lady, Queen of England, Australia and a couple of other countries I can't remember. This has been an Anus Horribillis. What with me being knicked, marriage breaking up and all the other things that are circulating about us. Now this. Jeez. And I couldn't even top myself properly. Good to have a sense of humour though. That will never die.

[yorkman]

Is there not a rule about no alcohol establishments withing a certain distance for both schools and Wats

It might vary from region to region, but near schools this is certainly the case around here, it happened a couple of years ago. Shops cannot sell either, officially at least . I did not know wats were included.

As to the OP question "What do the members think?". Well firstly, sorry for the effect on your business. To apply this sort of thing retrospectively (I presume there have not been complaints) does seem unfair to put it mildly!

As for the ban on the two weekends, well at one level it would seem sensible, there is much more traffic around and with the numbers that mix drinking and driving.....

On the more pragmatic side, it does not make the slightest bit of difference to the availability, all the street corner mom'n'pop stores carry on selling regardless!!

[soundman]

Why issue the liscense in the first place? Unfortunately TIT & any new law negatively affecting your business will be almost impossible to get compensation for.

Good you've got the place over the road - just replicate FC over there & most of your customers probably wouldn't notice the different location.

On the other hand - you could just get a petition of twenty thousand names going to relocate the wat. That's all that is required to remove a PM, so a wat should be a piece of cake! (tic)

Cheers man, good luck & sincerely hope all works out.

Soundman.

[TheExpat]

Goodluck FC!

The place accross the street is awesome and will suit your needs. The only problem is the parking

It has a nice clean toilet and even has a urinal. The kitchen is proper as well!

But if you want to stay, I would put up a fuss. Is the bar next door to you closing as well? (the one with the karate school above it)

It seems if you really want to stay there, then you can do something about it. Goodnight, you have put millions into remodeling your place and is just not fair! Mr. Srisurin (owner of the buildings) is the richest man in town and he is a friend of your missus, so I am sure he can pull some strings for you.

In any other country, you would be grandfathered and allowed to stay. I think you can fight this just by talking to the government.

Do you feel that this is because you are a farang or maybe they are being hard on you because of your incident the other night???

You have been through a series of bad luck this year.

All the best Martin.

The Expat

Edited December 16, 2007 by TheExpat

[farangconnection]

Goodluck FC!

The place accross the street is awesome and will suit your needs. The only problem is the parking

It has a nice clean toilet and even has a urinal. The kitchen is proper as well!

But if you want to stay, I would put up a fuss. Is the bar next door to you closing as well? (the one with the karate school above it)

It seems if you really want to stay there, then you can do something about it. Goodnight, you have put millions into remodeling your place and is just not fair! Mr. Srisurin (owner of the buildings) is the richest man in town and he is a friend of your missus, so I am sure he can pull some strings for you.

In any other country, you would be grandfathered and allowed to stay. I think you can fight this just by talking to the government.

Do you feel that this is because you are a farang or maybe they are being hard on you because of your incident the other night???

You have been through a series of bad luck this year.

All the best Martin.

The Expat

Cheers Brad...........words of wisdom from a nice man.

[TheExpat]

^You can fight it for sure.

Leave when you are ready to, not when you have to!

[elsie]

Sorry to hear, Khun F*t G*t. Hope it all works out for you.

Yorky must be stressed out to the max now.

[rixalex]

On the more pragmatic side, it does not make the slightest bit of difference to the availability, all the street corner mom'n'pop stores carry on selling regardless!!

I was confident myself that that would be the case - as it is every other year. Imagine my horror/shock/surprise, when last night not a single place in my neck of the woods would sell any alchohol whatsoever - and i'm talking a place near to Bangkok but still pretty far off the beaten track. Seems even the tiniest of shops had been visited by the men in brown. Whatever they said scared them enough to not even sell discretly.

[Naam]

This has been an Anus Horribillis.

normally i would object when reading that kind of spelling but realizing your problems i fully agree that they cause a pain in your @ss.

[Insight]

We have until January 31st...............................apparantly it doesn't matter until then. But one thing is sure..............we will keep running, even without booze. We have already taken the option of the place across the road, which used to be Brads diner. The big problem there though is with the sun. I think what we will do is try to run two places and concentrate with the shop ands bakery across the road. One place for boozers and one for non-alkies. ( Jeez, that means Yorky and Elsie will never come near us again) One idea I'm toying with is to set up what we used to call in the mob ' A pig's bar' where drinks are rock bottom prices. Of course, I'll have to fork out for mats for the customers to sit on. Most of my mob wouldn't mind that though. In the words of our good lady, Queen of England, Australia and a couple of other countries I can't remember. This has been an Anus Horribillis. What with me being knicked, marriage breaking up and all the other things that are circulating about us. Now this. Jeez. And I couldn't even top myself properly. Good to have a sense of humour though. That will never die.

Glad to hear it. FWIW, hope you have a good Christmas regardless.

(hazy memory - why did you get nicked?)

[Soi105]

I don't know about Surin. In Bangkok many bars have no drink licence. Around the Sukumvit Area there are 2 choices or official drink licence or pay the police monthly. The cost are almost the same.

Don't be in a hurry in renting another place, TIT, finally the local cops are the ones who have to maintain those provincial government rules.

Good Luck

==============

Well, I guess this will be bad news to some 13,000 people and good news to around 20. The Surin provincial government in it's immense wisdom has decided that after 10 years, The Farang Connection is too close to the Wat to be attracting thousands of visitors and has withdrawn it's drink licence. Actually it has taken the drink licence off all pubs, restaurants and genaral dens of iniquety from everyone within 50 meters of a Temple. ( where of course in Europe a lot of the real good beers are brewed) Where will this madness stop? First, they ban the sale of alchohol on two of the busiest weekends of the year,( which should cut tourism by half) now come up with this ridiculous ruling. I am not even sure if it is just Surin or wether the ruling is nationwide. What do our members think?

[bergen]

Hi Martin

Sorry to read another sad story.

I guess this is just a part of "Amazing Thailand"?? - where nothing is predictable, and everything uncertain?

Try to fight and speak to the "sen yais", or just move across the street.

Keep your spirit up, and keep going!

Best of luck!!

Trond

[yorkman]

On the more pragmatic side, it does not make the slightest bit of difference to the availability, all the street corner mom'n'pop stores carry on selling regardless!!

I was confident myself that that would be the case - as it is every other year. Imagine my horror/shock/surprise, when last night not a single place in my neck of the woods would sell any alchohol whatsoever - and i'm talking a place near to Bangkok but still pretty far off the beaten track. Seems even the tiniest of shops had been visited by the men in brown. Whatever they said scared them enough to not even sell discretly.

horror/shock/surprise indeed

I should have said... Issan. Different rules apply . Its certainly been enforced in town (bars etc), but as we had friends round yesterday I went out and bought a few beers. It was not even discrete!!

[soundman]

This has been an Anus Horribillis.

normally i would object when reading that kind of spelling but realizing your problems i fully agree that they cause a pain in your @ss.

Sorry Martin - but that is pretty funny - the "horrible arse".

Once again good luck with it all.

[bdenner]

Your not crying "Wolf" again are you. If I remember rightly there was a similar dramatic headline earlier in the year -- APRIL 1st I would think.

NO, in all respect, you have my best wishes on relocation. I have a friend up here with the same problem hanging over his head, too close to a WAT and there are a few others especially in Nong Khai.

[farangconnection]

Your not crying "Wolf" again are you. If I remember rightly there was a similar dramatic headline earlier in the year -- APRIL 1st I would think.

I guess my April fool joke has turned into reality.

And my spelling of the Queens words were of couse intentional

[surinmike]

well that sucks to say the least,,,,,,,,,,being the 7th person to sign the book and all the time i have spent there and had one or two good times there,mainly before you had the place i must add....gonna miss the digs ,but hey it ain't like there are no vacant places left in Surin...get on with it and relocate and stay off the juice, outa the clink......you know us guys will support it sorta,cheaply,little-bit,plenty of spots to be had....good luck martin.....

[surinmike]

so like your booze license is gone like NOW?? if thats so give them a moon for me too martin.......

[surinmike]

Martin does this have any bearings on your adventures of last week in Surin???????

[yorkman]

Martin does this have any bearings on your adventures of last week in Surin???????

Reported... await the result

[elsie]

if thats so give them a moon for me too martin.......

Mooning Thai cops???? That is going to help his situation how exactly????

[TheExpat]

^ Well he has done it before, for less!!!!!

But the situation can't get any worse for him so who cares!

[Jai Dee]

Bad news Martin... 2007 has not been a good year for you hey?

We have already taken the option of the place across the road, which used to be Brads diner. The big problem there though is with the sun. I think what we will do is try to run two places and concentrate with the shop ands bakery across the road.

Any way you can mitigate the "sun issue"?

I am assuming that the majority of your best-spending customers would be the late-afternoon, early-evening types...

[elsie]

Ok, so go on then, Khun F*t G*t. Don't care about the consequences. Go moon the cops again. Get locked up again. Drink and drive again. It just can't get any worse now, can it?

How many hours did you have to stand again, I already forgot?

And are you lot who say "who cares! moon them again!" going to keep him company when he gets locked up, by the way?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

This has been an Anus Horribillis.

normally i would object when reading that kind of spelling but realizing your problems i fully agree that they cause a pain in your @ss.

Touche

[dr_Pat_Pong]

We have until January 31st...............................apparantly it doesn't matter until then. But one thing is sure..............we will keep running, even without booze. We have already taken the option of the place across the road, which used to be Brads diner. The big problem there though is with the sun. I think what we will do is try to run two places and concentrate with the shop ands bakery across the road. One place for boozers and one for non-alkies. ( Jeez, that means Yorky and Elsie will never come near us again) One idea I'm toying with is to set up what we used to call in the mob ' A pig's bar' where drinks are rock bottom prices. Of course, I'll have to fork out for mats for the customers to sit on. Most of my mob wouldn't mind that though. In the words of our good lady, Queen of England, Australia and a couple of other countries I can't remember. This has been an Anus Horribillis. What with me being knicked, marriage breaking up and all the other things that are circulating about us. Now this. Jeez. And I couldn't even top myself properly. Good to have a sense of humour though. That will never die.

Good spirit Martin. The very best of luck. Tidy up and go see the Governor.