Thai Police Propose To Extend Nightlife Closing Times By Two Hours To 4Am

[jackspratt]

Drink til 4 AM

Eat, take taxi ride home, shower, and shag the companion of your choice.

Pass out by 6 or so

Sleep til 3 PM

Wake up, shag again, shower, eat, go get a massage

Hit the bars at 8

Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's called "vacation", why not?

I have plenty of time to be a responsible adult when I am back in the real world.

Actually, "responsible adults" remain responsible wherever they are in the world.

Perhaps you rate yourself too highly.

[Nisa]

Not much of a night owl but am all for extending the hours and thing they should go to about 6:00 am and then people have more options to use public transportation to get home.

I am almost always in favor of less regulation when it comes to adults and business making their own choices to cater to each other.

However, I doubt any extension is going to happen because Thailand is moving more towards the west of greater regulations and reduced freedoms.

[MoonShadow]

None of the bars I've frequented were owned by the police. Why go through the hassle of actually owning one, when you can let someone else own it and you still get the profits without the headache.

Leased probably but from who.......?????

[toybits]

Shameful!!! I thought the policeman's job was to enforce the law. Not change it for their benefit!

Edited April 16, 2013 by toybits

[moe666]

if the bars staying open until 4am will eliminate those stupid sidewalk bars I am all for it. When I started coming back to Thailand in 1998 the bars stayed open until 4 or 5 and there were no sidewalk bars. When Big T changed the closing time a new way to drink started up sidewalk bars with no regulation or need to provide a safe enviroment

[Tomtomtom69]

Yep, giving people two more hours in the wee morning to get good and boozed up before wandering drunk down the streets, will certainly help to reduce the crime rates; and no doubt improve Thailand's image and reputation at the same time! More tourists will no doubt come flocking to Thailand, Oops, for whom the government is already concerned about not having enough service industry workers.

With all this great material, why isn't there a great, hugely successful Thai-American stand-up comedian? Or better yet, I can envision a hilarious weekly sit-com on cable TV. We could have famous actors/actresses fighting for cameos to be this week's Prime Minister, or Minister of Science, or Police Chief, or Minister of Culture, etc. Lesser stars could be bar girls, Russian mafia and drunken western expats. We could even figure out a way to have Thai Visa on the show... with all the weekly cameo stars reacting to various criticisms posted by TV experts. You just can't write this kind of material--people would think it was too far out. Where are the screen writers out there????

There is one hugely successful Thai-American stand-up comedian from Los Angeles. However, he is far more American than Thai and he is thus largely unknown in his "native" Thailand. He is a Youtube success and goes by the name of Traphik or Timothy Delaghetto.

[moe666]

If This proposal had come from sort of "Bar owners federation" or the like I could have understood it but the METROPOLITAN POLICE???????. The proposal from bar owners would have been to make more money however the proposal from the police is purely to --------- make more money!!!!!!

OK------ lets do it and make everybody happy------------Never heard so much crap in all my life

Seriously, who do you think owns the bars...??????

Not who you think, usually everyday people trying to make a living. Many of the posters here give the bib a more industrious nature than the have

[Trouble]

Don't think it's a bad idea. The reasons given in the article are rather ludicrous. However there are a number of reasons why it is not a big deal. The venues would not be paying the tea money for after hours operation as someone pointed out. Each bar or club would find out if staying open would work for their individual venue. Most would probably find it did not pay to stay open. Not everyone wants to end the evening at 2 AM. I would have suggested they try this on Friday and Saturdays only as a first shot at this kind of thing. In many countries in Europe things don't even get started until midnight.

[khundanny]

Why do authorities want any type of commercial enterprise to close? Why not let the owners of these establishments close when they want? Won't the free market place regulate itself? Does it really make any difference when a bar or a 7-11 closes? But, then again, allowing a bar to remain open until 4 am has many positives. I can't think of even one negative. Can you?

[thaibeachlovers]

Anyone who has been here long enough knows that the numbers are WAY down in (Nana, Soi Cowboy, and Patpong), it's called simple observation. This is the only way they can make up the income.

Maybe if they learned to embrace the nightlife they could all benefit from it,for example stop charging 120 baht for beers !

The places you've mentioned are essentially go-go bar areas ...can't imagine what the eye-candy (or attitude of said) would be like at 4am !

Your beer goggles must be a lot more effective than mine ! Your stamina also !

You obviously don't remember Nana Plaza in the mid 90s! Hollywood Royale only closed after dawn, and there was always plenty of eye candy till the last customer left.

Obviously, not all of the bars will remain open till 4am. Smaller ones would close much earlier.

In Pattaya back then, "nightlife" usually continued in various venues till after 10am. I don't know what time they did close, because I was always so tired by 10am that I'd gone off for a kip.

[SantiSuk]

Anyone who has been here long enough knows that the numbers are WAY down in (Nana, Soi Cowboy, and Patpong), it's called simple observation. This is the only way they can make up the income.

Maybe if they learned to embrace the nightlife they could all benefit from it,for example stop charging 120 baht for beers !

+1.

In the 15 years I have been coming to Bangkok those three venues have been turned from being risque truly-Asian experiences into pale shadows - almost theme parks. They just havent quite sorted out how to get the busloads of Chinese and Russian tourists into the narrow sois yet.

Another 2 hours of the same fake rubbish aint going to make a drop of difference.

[Chicog]

Ten years ago I might have given a toss.

If you're not drunk by 1am then you're not drinking hard or fast enough.

Or you can hold your drink.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[surangw]

give 24/7 a try and see how it goes

[Chicog]

Works for me. Come and go as you please. No pun intended

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[HeavyDrinker]

Look! Let the bars be open til 4am!

It's that easy.

If you don't want me singing outside your window then PM me your address and i'll not do it because all drunks look for banal pricks....

(I can do "Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp, Nothing Else Matters - Metallica and Clones - Alice Cooper)

[JemJem]

I am personally in favor of venues' (licensed ones, of course) being able to open till 4 or 5 every night. But, if there is really a lot of opposition to this, why not a 'compromise' ?! For example, for Friday nights and Saturday nights, the closing time can be 5, but for other nights it can be 2.

I consider myself lucky that in my nightlife-loving and energetic twenties (which roughly came to the decade 1990's). Thailand didn't have the 2 am closing time thing. It was beyond even 4 am for many venues back then. I remember dancing at some clubs till around 5-6 many times.

[GooEng]

indeed, same here

i miss those days.....

Edited April 16, 2013 by GooEng

[Tanlic]

Met a Thai bartender a few years back who used to work until 6am

He was a family guy earning 16k per month.

Then came the clamp down and his boss forced to close at 1-2am reduced his salary to 9k.

How he and many others like him managed to support their families afterwards I have no idea but no doubt more than a few turned to crime in desperation. So perhaps the silly statement so many jumped upon isn't so silly

I couldn't give a rats ass if the police or the pope own bars and to be honest I'm totally p!ssed off reading crap from Thaivisa members dissing police at every turn and making out like they actually know what goes on behind the scenes. The truth is very few bars are actually owned by the police in comparison and these members probably sit at home night after night knitting and watching TV with a 50 baht bottle of beer and are never in the bars......probably most of them came here on a 2 week holiday and are posting from far of Denver Doncaster or sunny Deutschland

IMVHO bars should be allowed to open 24 hours especially in holiday resorts like Pattaya Phucket as it's got to be good for tourism. I know when I was a youth how closing time played a big part on where we went on Holiday.

As far as Bangkok goes 100% they should be allowed to open until 4am or longer if they wish but I'd close the street bars as Bangkok needs those pimps and no users that hang around there at night like it needs a hole in the head.

Edited April 16, 2013 by Tanlic

[noitom]

How to get more skim off the "night" trade.

[PoodMaiDai]

"Changing the closing time to 4am could reduce crime, particularly rape

and robbery, because it will be morning by the time would-be burglars

and rapists leave the bars," she said.

I never heard a more stupid statement than that!

Yea, rapists don't rape after 4am. Says so in the Thainess Handbook section 1827.2 RAPE

Of course that doesn't apply to raping foreigners.

[Sharp]

Anyone who has been here long enough knows that the numbers are WAY down in (Nana, Soi Cowboy, and Patpong), it's called simple observation. This is the only way they can make up the income. Maybe if they learned to embrace the nightlife they could all benefit from it,for example stop charging 120 baht for beers !The places you've mentioned are essentially go-go bar areas ...can't imagine what the eye-candy (or attitude of said) would be like at 4am !Your beer goggles must be a lot more effective than mine ! Your stamina also ! You obviously don't remember Nana Plaza in the mid 90s! Hollywood Royale only closed after dawn, and there was always plenty of eye candy till the last customer left.Obviously, not all of the bars will remain open till 4am. Smaller ones would close much earlier.In Pattaya back then, "nightlife" usually continued in various venues till after 10am. I don't know what time they did close, because I was always so tired by 10am that I'd gone off for a kip.

Agreed ..

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[DocN]

Look! Let the bars be open til 4am!

It's that easy.

If you don't want me singing outside your window then PM me your address and i'll not do it because all drunks look for banal pricks....

(I can do "Goodbye Stranger - Supertramp, Nothing Else Matters - Metallica and Clones - Alice Cooper)

...and "Nothing else matters" is a particularly happy party song!

[Chao Lao Beach]

How many policeman own bars ?

[hyperdimension]

Let businesses themselves choose when they wish to close. Leave it to market forces.

[toybits]

It's just like the gambling business. It is illegal and probably not owned by the BIBs. However, BIBs earn big buck from the illegal gambling business. Just connect the dots and imagine how the money flows...

[hellodolly]

Met a Thai bartender a few years back who used to work until 6am

He was a family guy earning 16k per month.

Then came the clamp down and his boss forced to close at 1-2am reduced his salary to 9k.

How he and many others like him managed to support their families afterwards I have no idea but no doubt more than a few turned to crime in desperation. So perhaps the silly statement so many jumped upon isn't so silly

I couldn't give a rats ass if the police or the pope own bars and to be honest I'm totally p!ssed off reading crap from Thaivisa members dissing police at every turn and making out like they actually know what goes on behind the scenes. The truth is very few bars are actually owned by the police in comparison and these members probably sit at home night after night knitting and watching TV with a 50 baht bottle of beer and are never in the bars......probably most of them came here on a 2 week holiday and are posting from far of Denver Doncaster or sunny Deutschland

IMVHO bars should be allowed to open 24 hours especially in holiday resorts like Pattaya Phucket as it's got to be good for tourism. I know when I was a youth how closing time played a big part on where we went on Holiday.

As far as Bangkok goes 100% they should be allowed to open until 4am or longer if they wish but I'd close the street bars as Bangkok needs those pimps and no users that hang around there at night like it needs a hole in the head.

I really think the whole thing is blown out of proportion. Sex is a big industry in Thailand and it is found in abundance at the aforementioned locations. To make the bars open 24 hours a day would just create more of the sex and booze industry. It would definatly attract more tourists. But I highly doubt it would amount to the amount a hair on a mole on an elephants ass has amounts to in comparison to the size of the elephant. The people who would benefit the most from it are the local barflies. The sex tourist and they are a very small minority would not care if the bar was open 24 hours a day or three hours a day that is not his concern. If he needs Alcohol he can go to the 7/11 get a supply and take a hooker home with him.

But it would also be used as a reason for normal families to move out of the areas.

Just My Opinion

[mok199]

...the govt and city councels just cant stop playing the ''victim''...they complain about the bad rep thainld has, then they wont do any thing to change it eg..songkran,...they just cant say no to the money..''i say keep the bars open 24/7,forget those silly religous holidays,they just get in the way of the cash flow anyhow,but....dont try and build a 5 star resort from a party town...take yr pick...what is it...god this is getting pathetic....

[marstons]

This one has me beat, longer opening hours less reason to extort tea money for the bars that stay open until 4 am anyway and cough up more tea money.

Edited April 20, 2013 by metisdead
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[mancub]

Not much of a night owl but am all for extending the hours and thing they should go to about 6:00 am and then people have more options to use public transportation to get home.

I am almost always in favor of less regulation when it comes to adults and business making their own choices to cater to each other.

However, I doubt any extension is going to happen because Thailand is moving more towards the west of greater regulations and reduced freedoms.

No ,I think Thailand is moving out of the Dark Ages towards a greater sense of social responsibility ,as befits it's status as an Asean leader.

[FarangTalk]

The truth is very few bars are actually owned by the police in comparison

Loads of bars are owned by the Police. There are 5 on Soi Cowboy alone (that I know of for a fact). My local is owned by an ex-Policeman and is frequented by Lumpini officers.

However, I don't bother going to Cowboy any more, it has been ruined with all the neon facades and lost it's appeal several years ago. Nana is even more desperate. Patpong seems to be the worst of the lot (despite some claiming a resurgence) and last time I ventured into a bar there on the ground level, I was presented with a bill for 4,000thb for 3 beers which I refused to pay then left. Patpong seems to attract more pondlife Thais than the other places, partly due to the street market as most of the vendors are playing hard-man gangster while in reality they are horrid little oiks selling knock off junk and Chinese dildos.

I'm all for closing the bars earlier in Patpong.