1am Closure Here For Good?

eyebee · December 14, 2004

According to a report on the TV today, it seems that 1am closing is here for good. The report said that the hours could only change if Thaksin changed the laws.

The police seem to think that the King's Birthday Speech was calling for reduced opening hours in the bars and they are going to enforce it strictly. It also appears that even on New Years Eve, bars will have to close at 1am. In previous years, on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve bars were legally allowed to be open till 6am - but no longer.

I also notice in today's Bangkok Post that the Finance Minister (huh?) has ordered that convenience stores will only be able to sell alcohol between 11am and 2pm, and 5pm and midnight.

Boy, these government types really know how to shoot themselves in the foot!

gburns57au · December 14, 2004

According to a report on the TV today, it seems that 1am closing is here for good. The report said that the hours could only change if Thaksin changed the laws.
The police seem to think that the King's Birthday Speech was calling for reduced opening hours in the bars and they are going to enforce it strictly. It also appears that even on New Years Eve, bars will have to close at 1am. In previous years, on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve bars were legally allowed to be open till 6am - but no longer.

I also notice in today's Bangkok Post that the Finance Minister (huh?) has ordered that convenience stores will only be able to sell alcohol between 11am and 2pm, and 5pm and midnight.

Boy, these government types really know how to shoot themselves in the foot!

The finance minister has asked for restricted sales at convenience stores....

There is still a petition pending by the mayor in regards to Pattaya and the 1 am closing.

ProfessorFart · December 14, 2004

Is that the Thai tourism industry I see going up in smoke.........?

pedro01 · December 15, 2004

Is that the Thai tourism industry I see going up in smoke.........?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I go to Pattaya quite a lot with the wife & kid. I live in Bangkok - Pattaya is most convenient for weekends. I just purchased a house there.

My impression of the nightlife in Pattaya is that it is very limited in terms of variety - mostly girl bars. Bangkoks nighlife is much more varied.

Perhaps I'm wrong & there's lots of cool places to go to in Pattaya.

So - it seems that it's the girl bars & single men that will suffer the most.

At the end of the day, Pattaya is full of guys, young and old, parading around with young prostitutes. This is not exactly something for Thailand to be proud of - so, perhaps this is a face-saving move.

For people like me - with a family, it's pretty rare to be up after 1am anyway, so for us - it doesn't make much difference.

Who knows if there are sufficient people like me to replace the sex tourists ?

BTW - I am not anti bar-girl, anti-sex tourist or anti-prostitiuon - each to his own I say. It remains to be seen if this will kill the tourist industry in Pattaya or just change it.

Pedro

britmaveric · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

pedro01 · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

'Clubbin' ? In Pattaya ? You are having a laugh !

You aren't referring to Tony's are you ! As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ? May be bearable but you'd never pay a cover charge to listen to it would you ?

I don't think anyone goes to Pattaya for a vibrant nite life in the same way they would in London, Aiya Napa, Ibiza, Tokyo, New York. Perth has a more varied nite life than Pattaya !

Bangkok has good Jaz, Techno, Hip Hop clubs, even a Rock club (although it is a bit Spinal Tap).

My point is that Pattaya doesn't have a varied nite life - so it doesn't attract hip young people looking to participate in the 'scene' there. Pattaya nite life is all about girl bars. So, closures it will mainly affect 1 type of tourist.

So, as it becomes less attractive for 1 type of visitor, it becomes more attractrive to family types. It remains to be seen if this type of tourist will come & if it'll be better for Pattaya as a whole.

Pedro

gburns57au · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

'Clubbin' ? In Pattaya ? You are having a laugh !

You aren't referring to Tony's are you ! As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ? May be bearable but you'd never pay a cover charge to listen to it would you ?

I don't think anyone goes to Pattaya for a vibrant nite life in the same way they would in London, Aiya Napa, Ibiza, Tokyo, New York. Perth has a more varied nite life than Pattaya !

Bangkok has good Jaz, Techno, Hip Hop clubs, even a Rock club (although it is a bit Spinal Tap).

My point is that Pattaya doesn't have a varied nite life - so it doesn't attract hip young people looking to participate in the 'scene' there. Pattaya nite life is all about girl bars. So, closures it will mainly affect 1 type of tourist.

So, as it becomes less attractive for 1 type of visitor, it becomes more attractrive to family types. It remains to be seen if this type of tourist will come & if it'll be better for Pattaya as a whole.

Pedro

Lets try X-cite, Hollywood, Lucifers for starters......there is a varied nightlife in Pattaya.....quite a few places have live bands and some even have farang bands, not to mention some very fine restaurants, you can even go bowling

Sure Pattaya is geared towards the Tourist Bar Scene but there is more than just that. Bangkok is also geared to the tourist bar scene, but as a capital city it is a lot bigger than Pattaya, therefore there is a bigger selection.

Nearly every country gets single tourists in bigger numbers then family tourists. Thats because single people dont have the commitments that families have, and single people do have sex on holidays, whether through pick ups or through the sex trade, That is a part of life.

Personally 1am closing doesnt worry me.....I usually start drinking at 7pm after dinner.....now I will start at 6pm.....

BTW.....Pattaya does have a much better nightlife than Perth....trust me !!!!

Edited December 15, 2004 by gburns57au

Sunny Valentine · December 15, 2004

I more and more tend to think that this crazy 1 o'clock closure will make problems mainly to bars and establishments that do not concentrate on the dreaded p4p Nightlive Pattaya is notorious for. Mind you, the classic sex tourist does not come to dance the night away or get pissed, he has other plans. So closing the bars early will not affect his wickede ways.

The closure will also not harm the classical family longstay tourist or foreign resident couple, although younger couples on holiday quite often like to go out for party long time.

Some comments here are right that Pattaya does not have a very varied nightlife, but there are several improvements in the last few years. But with this closing policy I very much doubt that they will be successful, and more non-p4p options will open. You can't run a disco that has to close at 1 in the morning, nowhere in the world. Now the discos here just grease some palms and risk problems staying open later, but for how long? I would not invest money for that type of venue right now. Investing in a beer bar or Gogo seems much less riskier in the long term, given that these crazy directions might stay long term.

Sex tourists have not too much other choices in Asia, maybe Cambodia and Angeles City, and Pattaya beats these places by far, even if they have to close at 10 or 11 pm, as we have already heard from some politicians.

Sunny

davethailand · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

'Clubbin' ? In Pattaya ? You are having a laugh !

You aren't referring to Tony's are you ! As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ? May be bearable but you'd never pay a cover charge to listen to it would you ?

I don't think anyone goes to Pattaya for a vibrant nite life in the same way they would in London, Aiya Napa, Ibiza, Tokyo, New York. Perth has a more varied nite life than Pattaya !

Bangkok has good Jaz, Techno, Hip Hop clubs, even a Rock club (although it is a bit Spinal Tap).

My point is that Pattaya doesn't have a varied nite life - so it doesn't attract hip young people looking to participate in the 'scene' there. Pattaya nite life is all about girl bars. So, closures it will mainly affect 1 type of tourist.

So, as it becomes less attractive for 1 type of visitor, it becomes more attractrive to family types. It remains to be seen if this type of tourist will come & if it'll be better for Pattaya as a whole.

Pedro

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ?

You obviously don't know Pattaya very well then do you?

Edited December 15, 2004 by davethailand

pedro01 · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

'Clubbin' ? In Pattaya ? You are having a laugh !

You aren't referring to Tony's are you ! As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ? May be bearable but you'd never pay a cover charge to listen to it would you ?

I don't think anyone goes to Pattaya for a vibrant nite life in the same way they would in London, Aiya Napa, Ibiza, Tokyo, New York. Perth has a more varied nite life than Pattaya !

Bangkok has good Jaz, Techno, Hip Hop clubs, even a Rock club (although it is a bit Spinal Tap).

My point is that Pattaya doesn't have a varied nite life - so it doesn't attract hip young people looking to participate in the 'scene' there. Pattaya nite life is all about girl bars. So, closures it will mainly affect 1 type of tourist.

So, as it becomes less attractive for 1 type of visitor, it becomes more attractrive to family types. It remains to be seen if this type of tourist will come & if it'll be better for Pattaya as a whole.

Pedro

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lets try X-cite, Hollywood, Lucifers for starters......there is a varied nightlife in Pattaya.....quite a few places have live bands and some even have farang bands, not to mention some very fine restaurants, you can even go bowling

Sure Pattaya is geared towards the Tourist Bar Scene but there is more than just that. Bangkok is also geared to the tourist bar scene, but as a capital city it is a lot bigger than Pattaya, therefore there is a bigger selection.

Nearly every country gets single tourists in bigger numbers then family tourists. Thats because single people dont have the commitments that families have, and single people do have sex on holidays, whether through pick ups or through the sex trade, That is a part of life.

Personally 1am closing doesnt worry me.....I usually start drinking at 7pm after dinner.....now I will start at 6pm.....

BTW.....Pattaya does have a much better nightlife than Perth....trust me !!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed - restaurants are good.

Lucifers, Hollywood & X-cite all appear to have been teleported straight from Romford to Pattaya, hardly representing the cutting edge of the 'clubbin' scene are they ?

I think the correct term is "Cheesy".

I still maintain that people that travel specifically to sample the nightlife in a place - such as travellers to UK, Tokyo, LA, New York, Ibiza, Goa, Aiya Napa will not be satisfied with what is on offer in Pattaya anyway. Silom Soi 4 has the goods, plus a few other places in bangkok. Pattaya has nothing to compare with this.

Pattaya is just way to cheesy - how about a classy club, some international DJ's, international bands, up and coming international bands ?

For some people, listening to a bunch of Philipinos playing "Hotel California" or Thai rockers playing "Smoke on the water" is cool. For others Pattaya night life is just not world class.

So I still don't see how this is going to kill the tourist trade - it's just going get the bar girls in bed earlier. I mean where are all the oldies going to go ? Spain ? Hardly think they are going to get their 'Sanuk' there...

Hurrah for beauty sleep I say.

P.S. I forgot to give the Elvis bar a mention - way cool

pedro01 · December 15, 2004

as long as there are chicks selling thier pussy and boys selling their <deleted> this place will always survive!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ticklemyfancy · December 15, 2004

as long as there are chicks selling thier pussy and boys selling their <deleted> this place will always survive!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well perdro for the latter I wanted to be gay friendly, it may be taken wrongly but I was refering to the "BOY BARS"

personally myself I like Jennys bar walking street, now I am getting controversial aren't I

britmaveric · December 15, 2004

Pedro- well nitelife by definition isnt family oriented. I dare say you wouldnt take your tikes out with you to the pub? Its very annoying when you want to take your gf out on the town clubbin or to a live music venue and things shutdown at 1AM. There are plenty of places open after 1AM to drink, but for live music/dancing its pretty pathetic to close things down when things are literally getting started. To me at the very least they should have late nights on the wkds for such activities - this is just plain bad for business which any business owner in the entertainment industry will tell you first hand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

'Clubbin' ? In Pattaya ? You are having a laugh !

You aren't referring to Tony's are you ! As for good live music venues - where ? Hopf ? Hard Rock ? Walking Street ? May be bearable but you'd never pay a cover charge to listen to it would you ?

I don't think anyone goes to Pattaya for a vibrant nite life in the same way they would in London, Aiya Napa, Ibiza, Tokyo, New York. Perth has a more varied nite life than Pattaya !

Bangkok has good Jaz, Techno, Hip Hop clubs, even a Rock club (although it is a bit Spinal Tap).

My point is that Pattaya doesn't have a varied nite life - so it doesn't attract hip young people looking to participate in the 'scene' there. Pattaya nite life is all about girl bars. So, closures it will mainly affect 1 type of tourist.

So, as it becomes less attractive for 1 type of visitor, it becomes more attractrive to family types. It remains to be seen if this type of tourist will come & if it'll be better for Pattaya as a whole.

Pedro

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lets try X-cite, Hollywood, Lucifers for starters......there is a varied nightlife in Pattaya.....quite a few places have live bands and some even have farang bands, not to mention some very fine restaurants, you can even go bowling

Sure Pattaya is geared towards the Tourist Bar Scene but there is more than just that. Bangkok is also geared to the tourist bar scene, but as a capital city it is a lot bigger than Pattaya, therefore there is a bigger selection.

Nearly every country gets single tourists in bigger numbers then family tourists. Thats because single people dont have the commitments that families have, and single people do have sex on holidays, whether through pick ups or through the sex trade, That is a part of life.

Personally 1am closing doesnt worry me.....I usually start drinking at 7pm after dinner.....now I will start at 6pm.....

BTW.....Pattaya does have a much better nightlife than Perth....trust me !!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed - restaurants are good.

Lucifers, Hollywood & X-cite all appear to have been teleported straight from Romford to Pattaya, hardly representing the cutting edge of the 'clubbin' scene are they ?

I think the correct term is "Cheesy".

I still maintain that people that travel specifically to sample the nightlife in a place - such as travellers to UK, Tokyo, LA, New York, Ibiza, Goa, Aiya Napa will not be satisfied with what is on offer in Pattaya anyway. Silom Soi 4 has the goods, plus a few other places in bangkok. Pattaya has nothing to compare with this.

Pattaya is just way to cheesy - how about a classy club, some international DJ's, international bands, up and coming international bands ?

For some people, listening to a bunch of Philipinos playing "Hotel California" or Thai rockers playing "Smoke on the water" is cool. For others Pattaya night life is just not world class.

So I still don't see how this is going to kill the tourist trade - it's just going get the bar girls in bed earlier. I mean where are all the oldies going to go ? Spain ? Hardly think they are going to get their 'Sanuk' there...

Hurrah for beauty sleep I say.

P.S. I forgot to give the Elvis bar a mention - way cool

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pedro- My point is clubbin will get big if allowed and I wasn't referring to Tony's I much prefer Xcyte. Xcyte is top notch in my opinion and I've been to clubs all over the world including Ibiza. (mistake comparing other cities at any rate)

As for live music venues- Blues Factory is top notch! I've also had the chance to listen to listen to other live music and to be honest I'm quite impressed.

Pattaya is varied IMO for being such a small place and I dare say has more to offer than alot of places in Thailand.

- International Cuisine

- Heaps of Clubs or Music Venues

- Cultural Thai Dancing

- Cabaret Shows

- Bars

God knows I'm sure I have left off other activities...

There is plenty to do in Pattaya apart from the obvious - open your eyes mate and perhaps you will see.

rocky · December 15, 2004

Europeans are not going to travel half way around the world for club holidays as there

are plenty of places in Europe that do it very very well.

Pattaya hasn’t a good beach.

So who are the main group of people travelling to Pattaya ?

My view is 90% or more are sex tourists, 1am closing imho will make no difference.

Though it could help the cheap Charles who sit at the bars all night waiting for the bar

to close so they can get who ever is left for the night and only pay short time rates.

The entertainment in Pattaya is good, Plenty of rock bands in different bars, Plenty of

Clubs, but I do not believe the music in either listed is that varied, First class quality

though. (I believe when a club gets it right all of the others copy the winning formula)

The flip side of the new closing times could be sex tourists going home for the first

time with a tan. Thus proofing that Pattaya offers more than just sex tourism. And

really what is the problem with 1am finish. In real terms it means up, eat, play, out

drink and dance earlier. The day has 24 hours and most people require 8 hours sleep,

holidays even more.

I have been on holiday to Pattaya with people who stay out till 4am, The next day

they get up a 4-5pm have breakfast and then to walking street for 12am. Really they

are only out for 4 hours. Perhaps now the same people can be up for 1pm and out for

8pm. The time table still works.

I have stopped telling people I go to Thailand for holidays even though I take my

English wife, the comments I receive are just to boring. I would like Thailand’s

imagine to change, this would make it easier for more people to visit.

britmaveric · December 15, 2004

Rocky- doubtful it will change. One of the things I love about thailand is its personality let it remain the same!

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