Countrywide 1 AM closing

[kreon]

From the point of view, of a better selection of beers and longer opening hours. Yes! Though not from the girlie scene point of view. I agree that Singapoe is sterile, but the licensing laws are better than here. As to getting a life, I already have one. On the subject of Texas, imparticular Dallas. When I have been out most places close at 2am, which is better than here.

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been to orchard towers lately?

some nice ass there

[kreon]

I remember the last time His Majesty the King's birthday fell on a Sunday several years ago, and bars had to close BOTH on Sunday and on Monday, the compensation holiday.

Met 3 lads on the first day strolling along looking for a brew who asked me where they could do so; had to tell them they couldn't -- that year, even foreign-oriented hotels weren't serving.  They were disgusted, having been convinced by a Thai national travel agent in Hong Kong to take a side 2-night/3-day tour of Bangkok's night entertainment scene in the midst of their Hong Kong holiday.  They had flown in that morning and were returning to Hong Kong the 2nd morning following.

Then they asked me where they should go the *next* day, and I was again obliged to tell them they couldn't get one then, either.  They were so disgusted they started trying to organize an earlier departure, and told me they would never come to Thailand again.  (They said they were on their first visit, though of course I have no way of knowing if that was true or not.)

Some posters have indicated support for 1:00 A.M. closings.  Fine.  Move to my home county in the U.S. where bars -- membership-only, please -- must close at midnight Sunday-Thursday and 1:00 a.m. on Friday-Saturday; no drinks are served -- by strictly enforced law --  the last 10 minutes before closing.  Booze bottles have to be 14 inches back from the front edge of the bar.  Bars that violate these laws aren't shut down for a fortnight or a month; they are shut down, period. Never to re-open.  Don't believe it? -- go online and check out the criminal statutes of Texas and the Code of Criminal Procedure for the Lone Star State.  A law enforcement person even has the legal right to walk up to you, ask you what you are drinking, then -- no matter what your reply -- to taste your drink to determine for himself/herself if you are telling the truth.

I'm an ex-lawman, so please don't accuse me of being anti-lawman or anti-law.

Even squeaky-clean Singapore has more liberal laws than this.

Furthermore, if I understand correctly from lawyers I know in Thailand (I'm not a lawyer myself, so cannot be sure), the authorities can pick and choose *which* laws they enforce, as, according to those sources, the passing of a new law does not automatically void an earlier law.  If that's true, then even martial-law era laws requiring bars to close at 10:00 P.M. are enforceable.

And Thailand wants to become the "Tourist Central" of East/Southeast Asia? --  Even mainland China, where I have lived, is more liberal in this regard.

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off to singapore then this weekend

tiger air here we come

[kreon]

Excellent idea not to keep the bars and certain other entertainments open all night.

Up to 1.00am is ample time for a good night out.

Of course this may mean that people will continue their night out at private parties or their homes. So what, if these idiots want to soil their own environment with vomit, drugs or whatever, who cares.

The Thai nightlife is still as good as it ever was, always something happening somewhere. Bars are not the be all and end all

Also the entertainments here are very reasonably priced.

Long haul travel has become more assessable, which has the knock on affect of attracting more dross type tourists, especially from England.

This means that it has become more probable that these dross will cause problems, similar to that of the visitors to Spain.

Therefore if certain establishments are permitted to stay open late, than this will have to be policed and paid for, increasing prices and creating problems here for everyone.

Some believe that the night entertainments of Japan & USA etc are superior to Thai night venues. Maybe they are right, but wager that these are highly policed and expensive, mostly too expensive for the people mouthing off about the Thai nightlife.

Also Thailand at night is still relatively safe compared to most western and some other countries. Those who suggest going to countries such as, Vietnam or Cambodia for their thrills, please go and gain the experience of having to look over their shoulders when walking about at night, and not having the peace of mind that you do not have the security of being in a civilized country such as Thailand.

For those people whose only nightlife options are the bars, than I suggest they would be better off going elsewhere. For the rest, Thailand can be a most exciting holiday experience, either for families, singles, old, young and all.

Fantastic weather all year round, low prices compared to the West and from North to South such a multitude of variation from mountains to ocean, country and towns, And what is more, for the single guys, beautiful girls galore, it has the lot.

I have been living in Thailand on and off for the last 15 years. Left England early last year with my wife and daughter. Now live here permanently. Since living here there is nothing in England that I miss and have no ambitions to want to live anywhere else.

All I can say is, that those who criticise this country and its laws are mostly people that do not live here or will ever have the ability or be able to achieve the status required to be able to settle here under the Thai immigration laws.

So for those people, take this advice, criticise the country you are stuck in and not Thailand that has an infrastructure you know nothing about. 

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well said....love this place

for party elsewhere, singapore...kl..... there are el cheapo flights now

long live asia!.....girls here we come

[WISteve]

it looks like most of you only come to Thailand to get laid cheap and get drunk.

True, but I'm really not THAT big a drinker!

I'm often back in my hotel by 1 or 2 am and I don't heave in the streets, start fights or abuse the locals. But it's nice to have your options open when you are on holiday. If I'm out late I would rather spend my time in a nice place with live music than listenning to a boombox (or no music at all) and drinking out of a teacup to pacify some local politician. Everyone who has been in Pattaya for more than a night can find places to drink if that is their choice any hour of the day. But why close-up the good venues early and force people out in the streets? Drinking in the streets late might not be a problem for the hooligans complained about elsewhere, but why force the rest of us to join them?

Check-out the Pattaya Mail or Pattaya News sites sometime and you will find the young thais are still finding plenty of places to drink, drug and gamble all night long.

Keeping the tourists happy shouldn't be too much of a problem for the thai powers-that-be. Piss off enough people and eventually they will lose those tourists. Seems some in positions of power forget that tourism is the second largest industry in Thailand, second only to agriculture.

~WISteve

[wilko]

As one contributor noted, the effect of early closing may take a while to have significant effect. However as a topic of conversation it is clearly a big issue with late night revellers in Pattaya.

There are already some effects being felt; a loss of takings, as many people can't or won't go out earlier. Panic drinking at one o'clock as people realise that everything is beginning to shut down and a lot of bars "closing" but leaving the doors open with minimum lighting and no music. The situation is confused...only one thing is for sure and that is this early closing in no way addresses any of the issues that the Government claims to be concerned about.

On third road in Pattaya a whole new plethora of bars has opened up they seem to be catering mainly for Thais but no one o'clock closing seems to be observed there. This is the centre for underage drinking and drugs. There are already regular reports of shootings here.

It is a pointless law (is it actually a law?) that is achieving nothing and will inevitably cause harm to both Thais and Farrang alike.

Although the closing time is unpopular and without merit this is only a small part of the issue; forget about the actual closing time itself or the feeble efforts to change the image of Thailand as a holiday destination, this kind of chaos will result in a lack of confidence from the tourists, especially when they read about, hear of, or experience the inconsistent enforcement of this new “decree”. The illogical zoning (what’s happening with that?), random raids and arbitrary arrests will destabilise the tourist industry here and people will begin to stay away. Following from this local employment will drop off and foreign owned property prices will plummet.

As with much policies in the last few years it is ill thought out badly conceived and ineffectively enforced. It may take a couple of years for the full effect to be noticed but the chain of events has already been set in motion. If the chaos is to be prevented a return to easygoing closing times is essential, and I don’t mean just putting the time back to 2 o’clock. They’ll find that drunkenness and accompanying rowdyism will be dissipated rather than concentrated (how can you have a scrap with a fellow drunk if he doesn’t come out of the bar at the same time as you?)and the tourists will be more relaxed and happier, more money will be spent and places like Pattaya will continue to prosper.

[et33.com]

at the end of the day

the night starts with music and fun

if force close early

the fun will just go underground

it will solve nothing

but open up and develop into other "issues" and "problems"

let each choose their own life

be a goody too shoe

drunken

or follow the sex craze

and let each pay their own price

[timonase]

Also Thailand does have a VERY HUGE DRINKING PROBLEM.   Believe it or not about 70 percent of the Thai population are alcoholics!!!!!!!!!  If you don't believe me, look around and you will without doubt find someone drinking from some glass or bottle.  Thai booze here is awful cheap, at 100 baht.  This stuff is so strong, you are totally drunk by the time you drink 1/8 of the bottle.  But that is not all, these people now have gotten so used to drinking they are doing near 1- 6 pack of Thai Whiskey every day.  They also glue sniff here cause it is so easy to get.

How does closing the tourist places like phuket, pattaya plus touristy places in Bkk, affect the motorbike guys, chicken sellers, somtam ladies and so on from drinking local whisky or prevent local slum kids from sniffing glue?

Closing the bars is like just a little effort to keep Thai people from getting so drunk, so late in the morning, so they will have enough time to sober up to go to work the next morning.

Again, closing touristy places does not affect, the local pissheads at all!

I agree only drawback is to the Tourists.  But I don't see that being a problem because even in America most bars and night clubs do close between 1 and 2 am in the morning.  Very few now are opened to 4 am.

Yeah, as america under dubya is not very appealing to tourist anymore, anyways!

I don't think it will affect people that much.  It will affect the bar and entertainment owners to some extent of loss revenues for what 1 lousey particular hour. 

Do you know when bars usually make the most money? After 12, so its not only one hour less, its only hour of big bucks! Plus,  you said it yourself, it will not stop the drinking problem, but affect people who are in fact not drinking, as bar owners or little karaoke owners.

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[samran]

Nothing like the topic of 1am closing time to get a bunch of balding middle aged blokes angry.

Please, aren't there better things to worry about?

[marquess]

Nothing like the topic of 1am closing time to get a bunch of balding middle aged blokes angry.

Please, aren't there better things to worry about?

There are, but you don't have to participate if you don't want to to.

[britmaveric]

After seeing first hand seems like it is still business as usual. Same places are open all night - asked a few owners and they say- oh we have 24hr operating license. (not sure of the legitimacy, but the men in brown don't seem to bother them so I dare say its same same)

[fourbaht]

just follow the crowds in pattaya moving from one club to another until 6.00 am, last night was no different open all hours

[Limbo]

Dave Yo wrote:

Also Thailand does have a VERY HUGE DRINKING PROBLEM. Believe it or not about 70 percent of the Thai population are alcoholics!!!!!!!!!

I write:

I am chocked. Especially if you realise that very few Thai women are drinking and that extremely few of them could be called alcoholics. That would mean that almost 140 % of all Thai men are alcoholics!!!!!!!!!

Are you drunk Dave Yo?

I think you belong to the 70 % alcoholics among pot-bellied -middle-aged-foreigners!

Dave Yo wrote:

Closing the bars is like just a little effort to keep Thai people from getting so drunk, so late in the morning, so they will have enough time to sober up to go to work the next morning.

I write:

Sheer nonsense, Thai people hardly have access to bars. Or there are no bars where they live or they cannot afford to go there or they even don't want to go there.

To the readers: Sometimes people write a lot of nonsense about Thailand and the Thai people. Don't believe everything that's written here!

[sonthaya]

Stupid, tourists doesn't travel half way around the world to be put to early to bed by some stupid laws.

[davethailand]

I have a feeling that 1am is here to stay for a while longer.

[britmaveric]

I have a feeling that 1am is here to stay for a while longer.

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Silly I'd love to see 2-3AM closing especially live music- guess we'll have to wait.

[maxisrael]

Stupid, tourists doesn't travel half way around the world to be put to early to bed by some stupid laws.

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If the tourists only come to party let them go elsewere .

The tourists who come to Thailand to enjoy this beautiful country have more space so what's the problem ? going early to bed at 01:30 ?

[wilko]

Nothing like the topic of 1am closing time to get a bunch of balding middle aged blokes angry.

Please, aren't there better things to worry about?

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I'm not "balding"!

[surfercaesar]

I think the gov't officials would like to see that entertainment biz in Phuket to die since most of these businesses are owned by farangs and the Thai people aren't getting anything from it but work. They want to be partners without any capitalization involved. Hehehe typical Thai mentality.

Sad aint it!!!!

[sonthaya]

The majority of tourists don't follow Thai news like we do. It will take a couple of years to see the effects of these closing times, after which a couple of seasons worth of tourists will be resentfull at having been sent home early like children when on holiday... word will spread, tourists go elsewhere. Mark my words.

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I think you are right there, tourists doesn't travel half way around the world to be put early to bed,it's just to stupid even by Thai standard.

[davethailand]

Spoke to my lawyer tonight who is friends with the Chonburi governors. They recieved an official letter from BKK stating that the discussions were over and that they've decided NOT to go back to 2am.

Chonburi have had official meetings today and its down to them now to hand out the letters. In other words= 1AM IS HERE TO STAY

I think if people are realistic about this Pattaya can still be a great place to come.

Oh and apparently if Phuket don't return to 1am then Taksin will deal with it personally.

[RDN]

..... Oh and apparently if Phuket don't return to 1am then Taksin will deal with it personally.

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Good! I'll get my boxing gloves ready and meet him at the airport.

[wilko]

Spoke to my lawyer tonight who is friends with the Chonburi governors. They recieved an official letter from BKK stating that the discussions were over and that they've decided NOT to go back to 2am.

Chonburi have had official meetings today and its down to them now to hand out the letters. In other words= 1AM IS HERE TO STAY  

I think if people are realistic about this Pattaya can still be a great place to come.

Oh and apparently if Phuket don't return to 1am then Taksin will deal with it personally.

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OK- to borrow from one of the UK tabloids - "Last one to leave Thailand, turn out the lights" - or has Taksin just done that for us??

[marquess]

I hope that the tourists do eventually leave, then it would teach them not to be so stupid.

[davethailand]

I hope that the tourists do eventually leave, then it would teach them not to be so stupid.

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?????????????

then the country will be on its arse.

[cdnvic]

Nothing like the topic of 1am closing time to get a bunch of balding middle aged blokes angry.

Please, aren't there better things to worry about?

No kidding.

Ever notice how we seem to get alot of new members everytime this comes up?

*yawn*

The downside is I'll have to look out for drunken motorcyclists an hour early.

cv