Paddys Irish Bar

[torrenova]

The currency exchange costs of dongs or mugabes would likely be prohibitive. Keep it simple - keep it Thai. How about 5 million satangs!

That would be a lot nearer the real price !

[Thaicoon]

His rent is ok if you had some reason to use the rooms. The kitchen is a farce and likely needs a total revamp. His bar is useless re fridges etc. so there are no real assets. His ancient TV and fan do not count. OK, his woodwork is worth something but no great shakes if he rips it out. It is worth about a fiver to anyone else.

Realistic figures ? If his lease is 3+3+3 with no key money and minor rent increases and he pays government electric, then perhaps a few hundred thousand. There is no goodwill, in fact, that might be negative ( ).

It would take some serious investment to get it up and running properly. Perhaps a few hundred thousand for proper fridges, store room and a kitchen, fix stuff like the toilet basin, employee some staff on decent wages and have a serious lead in of loss leaders to build up trade.

However, the biggest problem in Buriram is that most people won't spend come Christmas. Never have I seen a city with so many penny pinching cheap charlies. Therefore, everything is purely price competitive which never works. Moving away from price competition means offering things which people in Buriram will not pay a premium for.

I could make it work, but the prices and lease would have to be cheap enough to start with. I'll pay 5 million ok, in Vietnamese Dong or Zimbabwean Mugabes or whatever it is there !

Good post, you have hit the nail on the head, and for cheap charlies you are damm right there, i know guys who will drink elswhere because they can save a couple of baht.

[torrenova]

Your post reminds me of my teenage drinking times when we used to meet as a group and then head out on a tour of the city's pubs. Usually we would be about right for a round each and we usually drank lager. Now beer was about 4p a pint more expensive in one pub but it was packed with totty which was surely worth the premium. I'm talking something like 72p versus 76p here.

So a couple of guys would try to always get their round in before we went there or would actually refuse to go if it was their round. We often stayed for a few there depending upon pulling success !

I've sat in Paddy's, Vinyl, Sawatdee Krap, Bamboo and a couple of other places and literally had complete strangers who you might share some conversation with at the bar complain about prices in every place. Now I think the most expensive is Bt90 for a large Heineken with free ice, glasses, newspaper, fan and toilet in Bamboo (except Paddy's where you never know what the prices are / were). I don't see how that is expensive as it costs circa Bt60 to buy in.

Then again, how many people do you know who drink something cheap when what they really want is a couple of baht more expensive ? Loads in Buriram.

In Sawatdee Krap one afternoon / early evening, I was in loose company with some guys I had drank with before and they actually broke the round up because I was on Heineken versus their Leo / Chang or whatever. How sad is that ?

[farangconnection]

My favourite story about the money concious expats is the difference in holiday stories here and at home. In a local pub back home you are likely to here holiday stories like this:

First man:" Went to a terrific hotel for my holiday. Cost me 100 quid a night"

Second man:" That's nothing, mine cost me 150 a night"

Third man:You should see the wonderful hotel we had. 200 pounds a night"

Over here it's more like

First man: Went to a terrific hotel for my holiday. Cost me 600฿ a night"

Second man: That's nothing,mine cost me 400฿ a night"

Third man: " You should have seen the wonderful hotel we had. 300฿ a night"

[turnpike]

My favourite story about the money concious expats is the difference in holiday stories here and at home. In a local pub back home you are likely to here holiday stories like this:

First man:" Went to a terrific hotel for my holiday. Cost me 100 quid a night"

Second man:" That's nothing, mine cost me 150 a night"

Third man:You should see the wonderful hotel we had. 200 pounds a night"

Over here it's more like

First man: Went to a terrific hotel for my holiday. Cost me 600฿ a night"

Second man: That's nothing,mine cost me 400฿ a night"

Third man: " You should have seen the wonderful hotel we had. 300฿ a night"

ain't that the truth...

[Dave the Dude]

This thread might as well be seeing the place in question is also

Dave