Cops to crackdown on illegal Bangkok nightlife

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Cops to crackdown on illegal Bangkok nightlife

file photo

BANGKOK:-- Police in Bangkok are to get tough on nightclubs, bars and other entertainment venues that stay open later than 1am.

In a proposed new change to the law, police see this as the only way of dealing with the ever increasing number of illegal establishments currently operating in the city.

According to Bangkok deputy police chief, Adul Narongsak, this new crackdown is the result of a complete disregard shown by venue owners for the current laws on out of hours opening.

At present many police officers do little more than issue a small fine to bar owners, which does very little to stop owners opening their venues beyond the legal licensed hours.

However, deputy police chief Adul, has said that officers need to get tougher on bar owners who continually break the rules with regards to late night opening.

According to current legislation, the Entertainment Venue Control Act of 1966, means that a venue can only be fined a sum of 2000 Baht if they stay open beyond closing time.

Under the proposed new legislation, much more severe fines for late night opening, ranging from between 60,000 and 200,000 Baht, would be issued to venue owners who are caught breaking the rules.

Police feel that these proposed stiffer penalties would give them more power to crackdown and stop illegal after hours trading.

It is this after hours trading that often results in an increase of brawls and other crimes, according to the police.

The proposed amendment to the law will also see police given more power to tackle open air eateries that serve alcohol and which play music louder than 80m decibels. Owners will now be required to obtain a license at a cost of between 10,000 and 50,000 Baht depending on the size and location of the venue.

Police warned that those who continue to operate without a license could face a fine of up to 400,000 Baht or even be face serving a jail term of between 3 and 5 years.

Police estimate that there are currently more than 2000 unlicensed entertainment venues in Bangkok. This is compared to the 198 legal venues located in the designated entertainment zones in city, and 480 licensed venues located outside designated entertainment areas.

As part of addressing the problem of illegal after hours trading, police are looking at introducing eight more designated entertainment zones in Sukhumvit, Rama II, Lat Krabang and Rachaphruek, in addition to the existing zones at Patpong, Ratchadaphiske and Phetchaburi.

The planned proposals will be discussed during a meeting at the Royal Thai Police Office next Monday before be sent to the cabinet for further consideration.

-- 2014-04-22

[smutcakes]

As far as I can see, pretty much every pub in Bangkok stays open past 1am every night, never mind nightclubs.

[krisb]

I don't understand why they close doors so early?

Mostly tourists spending money. It does nothing to stop drunk behaviour when you get served till your blind anyway.

[phuketrichard]

going to make very quiet streets after 2 am if this happenes

[ezflip]

This targets bars, pubs, nightclubs and other "entertainment venues" in Bangkok. So, what about all the Thai restaurants/karaoke places that are rarely seen by tourists/foreigners and stay open until sun up? Business as usual???

[ChrisY1]

With the exception of certain gambling houses and massage parlours......and of course those that follow procedures:)))

Just another public show...nothing more.....

Edited April 22, 2014 by ChrisY1

[shirtless]

Thailand is becoming more like the west everyday, Fines and restrictions always increased, If the authorities dont watch out they wont have a tourism industry as people could have more fun in their home countries.

[CWMcMurray]

May just be cynical , but if fines are only 2k... Can't be much tea money involved

But if the fines were 60-200 k ... The tea money to stay open after hours must also increase proportionally, right??

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Andre0720]

I read it again..

It does talk about a complete disregard of current laws !!!!

[bangkokheat]

while the penalties and fees are increasing for business, the killers on the road remain unaddressed

[Travel Dude]

If the fines go up then the under table money can go up. Logic.

Nothing else will change.

It might be silent for a couple of weeks and then it will be business like usual.

[ezzra]

Obsolete laws from 1966, and instead to amend to the to suite today's demand for

night life closing hours where revelers only go out at 11pm, unlike the 60' where people

were in bed by midnight the latest, what do they do? they increase the penalties amount,

sure, better leverage for the BIB to pocket more money, that's all about mo' money...

[Pikeybkk]

According to Bangkok deputy police chief, Adul Narongsak, this new crackdown is the result of a complete disregard shown by venue owners for the current laws on out of hours opening.

Em , nooo, it due to huge amounts of tea money being paid and the fact that most venue owners are either cops or criminals

[rametindallas]

With so many illegal venues, where do the police begin? They begin with the slow payers and irregular payers unless the whole announcement was to put everyone on notice that the price of staying open was going to go up.

This 'stay out until sun-up' is ingrained in the culture and this crackdown won't be popular with the citizenry. Some of my favorite restaurants stay open until 6 a.m.. If the illegal clubs aren't keeping people up late, then their restaurant businesses will suffer. Most of the people who don't like these places are in bed early and shouldn't be bothering what grown-up want to do at 3:30 in the morning.

[AlphMichaels]

Bar fines are paid monthly to allow them to stay open. That isn't going to stop. It's a source of personal revenue for those who "enforce".

[Tatsujin]

Ha ha, funny . . . police see this as the only way of dealing with the ever increasing number of illegal establishments currently operating in the city . . . perhaps if they stopped taking the bribes to "protect" these illegal establishments, there wouldn't be so many. Interesting to note how many are also owned/run by the Police themselves.

[Lammbock]

In Europe there are Nightclubs where nobody goes for party before 2am.

[Bkungbank]

You want tourist but asked them go back to sleep 12 p.m like Cinderella , fun just begin 10.00 p.m - 11.00 p.m main income for district office post to make extra, why silly politician make such laws many vibrate cities like Hong Kong ,Singapore and Kuala Lumpur which never sleep, leave the adult alone as long as not children under 18 roaming after 10.00 p.m that is fine.

Such control makes more illegal discos and pubs, which you can see in dark lane but many people walking in and out.

The demand is there the government should collect more taxes if let them operate legally and in other ways.

[Bkungbank]

You want tourist but asked them go back to sleep 12 p.m like Cinderella , fun just begin 10.00 p.m - 11.00 p.m main income for district office post to make extra, why silly politician make such laws many vibrate cities like Hong Kong ,Singapore and Kuala Lumpur which never sleep, leave the adult alone as long as not children under 18 roaming after 10.00 p.m that is fine.

Such control makes more illegal discos and pubs, which you can see in dark lane but many people walking in and out.

The demand is there the government should collect more taxes if let them operate legally and in other ways.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Bkungbank

[mrtoad]

This will be used as an excuse for The BIB to extract more tea money from the bars and vendors. When I first came to Thailand in 1991, I remember that everything was pretty much open all night, a fuzzy memory of being in a bar complex in Patong with sun coming up, and the place absolutely packed. The crackdowns over the years, have pushed people out onto the streets, Sukhumvit being a great example of that, with all the temporary bars set up, to get around the laws. Of course other places have been allowed to stay open for the right types of money. It makes no difference really to me what they do, but I agree that they need to clean up the nightlife, cut down on the scams that are operated by some of these establishments, and really allow proper places to stay open, without having to pay tea money. Sukhumvit for example is like an open sewer at night. Of course this is not going to happen.

Personally, I'd have thought that Adul has some more pressing issues that he should be concentrating on , but this is an easy target and an opportunity to make some more money.

[Thaddeus]

Cops to crackdown on illegal Bangkok nightlife that they don't own, run or control.

Headline fixed.

[edgarfriendly]

Ha!

theyre going to get tough on the establishments they own?

or the ones they 'extort'?

or none of the above?

this place is a joke

[Morakot]

I don't understand why they close doors so early?

Do they have "lock in" sessions?

Edited April 22, 2014 by Morakot

[stickylies]

This targets bars, pubs, nightclubs and other "entertainment venues" in Bangkok. So, what about all the Thai restaurants/karaoke places that are rarely seen by tourists/foreigners and stay open until sun up? Business as usual???

the hardworking cops closing+fining bars at/after 1am also need a place to head to afterwards right. in other words, those places stay open.

[JO1973]

The Thai government has this strange love/hate relationship with nightlife. They do everything they can to encourage it and bring in foreign tourists to engage in all those things Thailand is known for (for good or bad let's just admit it -- bars and women are a huge part of the tourism industry here). Then they do everything they can to restrict it and complain all the while about the types of tourists they purposefully attract.

Why not just allow them to stay open until 2 or 3am? Or are these new fines just another way to create an extra revenue stream, fining establishments for staying open past 1am and then allowing them to do so anyway? My guess is bars and clubs won't close early, they'll just have to pay higher fines to do so.

[sirchai]

Cops to crackdown on legal Bangkok nightlife, Those who don't have enough money will be replaced by cop owned Pussy bars.

[Estrada]

In the good old days here we used to get chucked out at day break around 06.00hrs and then proceed down beach road Pattaya, or if drinking in Therme, along Sukhumvit road, to the nearest restaurant for an egg bacon breakfast. Those were the days!

Geoff

[coobah666]

Police to get pay rise with extra tea money should be the headline

[Docno]

"It is this after hours trading that often results in an increase of brawls and other crimes, according to the police. "

I wonder if there's any evidence for this. I remember being in the UK back in the 80s when the pubs had to close at 11pm (if I recall correctly), and people would become totally wasted by that time. And at 11pm, on the dot, the (super bright) lights would come on and aggressive bouncers would start yelling at people to finish their drinks and leave. I was told by my friends that because the pubs closed so early, people drank more quickly to get their fun in before everything shut down, and so they got more drunk. (One friend was from Canada where, at that time, our pubs closed at 1-3am, so she could make the comparison). I was also told that 'brawling' was very common because people were so drunk and still wired up when they were put out on the streets...

[Sheppo]

Usually fly in after 9:00pm then taxi to hotel. Hit Soi Cowboy about midnight and stay 3-4 hours. Stay in BKK 2 or 3 nights.

If this crackdown happens then taxi straight to Pattaya, forget BKK. Can be in Pattaya by 11:30 and enjoy early hours of morning and save money

It is about time Thai government think properly about tourism.