checkinn99 to close after 60 years

[CheckInn99]

What I always remember is the dwarf that used to stand at the entrance.

Hi Johnniey Yes that was Summai.. he initially worked in the Nipa Hut and then at Checkinn99 for about 15 years. He unfortunately died in about 2008.

[CheckInn99]

No surprise whatsoever,always empty,ridiculously overpriced for a beer it's not rocket science is it?Probably run on the expert marketing strategy so prevalent in Thailand that the emptier you are the more you charge for a beer,just to make up the shortfall TiT!

Hi Fren.. yep beer price is always source of perception vs reality and I think you have an excellent memory.

Six years ago before I took over Checkinn99 Chang draft jugs were exactly as you describe and it was often not fresh - expensive beer = empty bar,,,

Since taking over in April 2011 we have had permanently priced 1 litre jugs of Heineken Draft at 199Baht net.. (I sell on average 30 jugs a night). Our house wine is a full 250ml (8floz) serve at 129Baht happy hour / 199Baht non happy hours and we do 800ml long island teas for 375Baht (net). Beer Lao had always been 99Baht during Happy hour (except for a brief period recently when I took it off the menu due to non-availability) - but its back again for the next 2 weeks at 99Baht.

If its your birthday you get a free cake and present. Anniversary / Engagement Free bottle of champagne. We don't charge VAT or Service (we share profit with the staff not tips) Even though I sponsored this forum for 4 years, its pretty clear I really have fallen short on my marketing message, so I really appreciate your feedback. Here's your special offer... if you can find anywhere with live music on lower Sukhumvit with cheaper on the Heineken draft beer.. I will put on a free keg for you and your friends. Come on in anyway as I am all ears for some more marketing advice.. (need to be quick though) ;-)

[Merylhighground]

The Nana plaza shutdown thread will be interesting when it gets demolished..only a matter of time really. Bangkok is evolving and will be very interesting to see it in 10 years time

Yeah that whole part of town is on borrowed time for sure. No doubt somebody will make the case for it as a unique cultural icon.

Yeah perhaps one day somebody will realise that all the parts of Bangkok that made it interesting have gone, to be replaced by hotels that nobody stays in because there's nothing interesting there anymore. It is unique, if only you had the wit to see it.

How is that Dinosaur place doing by the way ?? Can't say I've noticed people queueing round the block.

.

Very well said Rott.

I reckon all the 'cool young, trendy, new set' will be writing similar laments about 'contemporary 'in' places in BKK such as Q bar etc. when they bite the dust and their own 'Bangkok memories' lie in rubble or are chipped away little by little. I recall quite a navel gazing twitter/Social Media fuss when Bed Supperclub bit the dust a while back. Nostalgia modern style in action I suppose.....

Yeah that whole part of town is on borrowed time for sure. No doubt somebody will make the case for it as a unique cultural icon

I'll oblige.

What criteria doesn't fit your high handed, smug, sneering, superior ideals of what constitutes being a 'cultural icon' might fit that of many others.

I'd say that for many, many people who have visited Lower Sukhumwit over the years will remember Nana Plaza over pretty much all else. Indeed, when I meet people who have visited that area they talk of little else and of great affection for some of the bars there.

But hey! Let's not pay any heed to what a bunch of much maligned 'sexpats' and 'sex tourists' think and ignore the vast sums it brings into the country; let's just flatten the lot and slap up another pointless Mall which apart from 'Security Somchai' on the door saluting empty space and a gaggle of tired and bored cleaners hiding in one corner of the fourth floor, won't see many people, a Condo that will lie empty for years, not even visited by the very few unlucky HK/NE Asian or Chinese buyers who they manage to dupe into buying a unit, and a few 5* hotels which will run at 20% occupancy for a few years before getting the knock.

Enjoy wandering around the trendy boutiques in the increasingly empty Malls they keep throwing up, then having to walk past ever more desperate 'salespeople' trying to flog unsellable condos to disinterested foreigners as hotel owners slap up more 'discounted rates' to try and monetize their empty hotels .....thats 'culture' for you is it? Enjoy it Modern Boy.....because once these places are gone, they are gone forever and where would you and your pals go to sneer at and feel oh so superior to these 'sexpats' you prattle on and on about incessantly...?

[SoiBiker]

I'm neither cool, young or trendy.

Let's not forget, though, that Bangkok is in Thailand. Why should anyone give a crap about the grand cultural tradition of foreigners getting drunk and laid for cheap?

[CheckInn99]

What was it, a short time sex motel?

It used to be.. as an out of town Bordello in the 1950's here is an old taxi guide from early 1960's when the bar was called The Copacabana.

Upstairs are 40 vintage short time rooms which had over 60 girls working in there when I took it over in 2011, but I closed it down and blocked off the entrance (many of the rooms still have belongings in them....it was and still is a firetrap). They used to enter via a back door to Checkinn99 (behind the stage) leading into the old Tunnel which is now demolished and soon along with the back of Checkinn99 in about 3 weeks. Did I answer the question?

[CheckInn99]

i forgot this time I did say it was yours when I posted it a couple of weeks ago, got any more from that era?

Here is one about the same period and how it looks now.. Miami Hotel is still there! (just)

[ExpatOilWorker]

What happened to the dwarf that always use to stand at the door at Check Inn?

[SoiBiker]

What happened to the dwarf that always use to stand at the door at Check Inn?

What happened to reading the thread before you post?

[ExpatOilWorker]

What happened to the dwarf that always use to stand at the door at Check Inn?

What happened to reading the thread before you post?

It didn't happen....this time.

[CheckInn99]

How sad! I remember it in the early sixties where we used to go for a late night drink. It had beautiful Filipino singers and great bar girls. One of them was Noy who later became the mamasam. She was my first Thai girlfriend and I saw her regularly over the next few years . When the bar moved to Sukhumvit it was renamed check-in 99 , but it had no resemblance to the old place. I popped in there recently because I heard that Noy was there. She would not believe that it was me until I showed her a few photographs of us together. She got the shock of her life when she realised who I was . After all , it was nearly 60 years ago that we were together . Sadly, many things have changed in Bangkok . I used to love it in the old days, but no longer.

Gamini.. here is a picture of Mama Noi in the 1960's as you would probably remember her 60 years ago.

For old time sake - here is the only known photo if Club99 in Silom before it merged with The Copa (also shown in the late 60's)

You are right.. the old days are gone forever

[CheckInn99]

I just loved CheckInn 99. I always thought it good value. What a shame.

Same goes for The Coffee Shop. Thermae on Sukhumvit, down the Sleaziest back alley. It was F A N T A S T I C......

I'm surprised no has mentioned the hotel on Petchaburi Rd, Gee can't remember the name. Had a "Coffee shop" at the front and always full, live bands and plenty of food. It was notorious in the late Nineties for Uni students to to work off their Uni fees.

Heading down town it was on the right side in between Asoke and Prayathai. Really old styled Thai hotel.

Hi John, here is a picture of the original Thermae.. with the columns outside and one of some late visitors (source Bangyai TD)

[CheckInn99]

Sad to hear that another venue of Bangkok's great old days as an entertainment city is about to vanish for good. Why do they have to close? Lease running out? Or is the land lord going to bulldoze the entire block in order to build yet another boring shopping center?

If you read the link your questions will be answered. In one word, greed.

Did the link actually say the reason is "greed"? I must've missed that part.

Hi Herbal - I should have bought you along to the last meeting...I'm sure it would have made everyone feel much more optimistic ;-)

[CheckInn99]

I love it when people try and claim a dingy old farang bar as some sort of heritage landmark. It's almost as funny as when people claim removing the dildo stalls from the pavement is taking away some precious part of local culture.

You are right SoiBiker.. if someone took away the dildo stall from in front of Checkinn99, no-one would ever be able to find the entrance .. at least they get to stay a bit longer ;-)

[MyFrenU]

If you want to know how to run an expat bar head for Sukhumvit Soi 33/1 and The Royal Oak,Dubliner and Robin Hood,all miles out of the way of the main drag for foreigner hotels and yet mostly packed every night.
If you can't make money in the middle of the foreigner's ghetto for drinking and whoring it really is time to throw in the towel,you're doing it wrong I'm sorry but that is the cold,hard truth!

[SoiBiker]

You mean the Dubliner that closed down recently?

[CheckInn99]

Yeah, I thought the band were pretty slick at what they do. But what they do is bland, cruise ship entertainment.

Cool, a positive take! Yet why the "but?" Their shows aren't spozed to be opera. Just good fun. And nothin wrong with that. I worked cruise ships, too, and while there's a lot of silly stuff there, we also had world-class stuff, Victor Borge, Gary Burton, etc. And CheckInn has world-class people come through all the time. Lots of best-selling authors, probably some you've read, if you read, hang out regularly there. Not just a few, lots.The place is no palace, but what's wrong with that? A little run-down, too funky in some ways, the air conditioning isn't top of the line, but it's real, and there's a real community around it. The jazz jams are uneven, but have really musical moments, the regular rhythm section (all Thai) is very solid, and sometimes some truly stellar players, even big names, drop in and blow me away. The place is happening, that's all I can say. If you don't see it, just don't put down people who do.

The 'but' is because it's a shame to see such obviously talented people performing generic, by the numbers rubbish. Those girls can sing. It would be nice to see what they can do beyond bland karaoke.

Hi Soi Biker... Despite there being a huge demand for oldie cover requests and dancing (the cheesy format aimed at baby boomers and more recently our theater restaurant shows is exactly how we pitched it to fill a gap... we have never been so busy).. if you would like to see what else they can do - have a look at their 800 clips.search youtube checkinn99 Music of the Heart. there's not much they don't do.. ;-)

[Merylhighground]

Some incredible images there CheckInn 99. Thanks, also thanks for keeping a bit of BKK history alive for a few years longer. Will you continue elsewhere? If, so all the best in any future ventures.

Thankfully BKK still resembled those shots when I first came in the 1980s so some pretty hefty nostalgia pangs there ( I still recall being able to stand at the soi 4 intersection and being able to see clearly all the way down to Asoke), though that stretch is largely unrecognisable now....thanks to the beloved faceless malls, condos and 5* hotels so beloved of some.......

Edited June 18, 2016 by Merylhighground

[CheckInn99]

The Nana plaza shutdown thread will be interesting when it gets demolished..only a matter of time really. Bangkok is evolving and will be very interesting to see it in 10 years time

Yeah that whole part of town is on borrowed time for sure. No doubt somebody will make the case for it as a unique cultural icon.

Yes SoiBiker you are right again - most of old Bangkok is living on borrowed time even including many of the newer bars and restaurants behind Soi 11. Unfortunately less well known (more of historic interest than cultural icon) is the back part of Checkinn99 which was built using the original walls of (and with access to the original cellars) belonging to the Nai Lert Bangkok Ice worksoriginally built on the site in the early 1900's when Sukhumvit Rd was a canal. We just uncovered the old steel frame cellar door during renovations which was certainly vintage when it was sealed up about 60 years ago. Some would guess it holds many secrets and some valuables (like our other cellar we opened five years ago in which we found quite a lot of antiques). It will be the part first demolished. (google wikipedia Nailert for the reference).

[CheckInn99]

I'm neither cool, young or trendy.

Let's not forget, though, that Bangkok is in Thailand. Why should anyone give a crap about the grand cultural tradition of foreigners getting drunk and laid for cheap?

Just to let you know I have reached my quota of likes for today! You are hitting straight sixes for me! I totally agree ;-)

[CheckInn99]

No surprise whatsoever,always empty,ridiculously overpriced for a beer it's not rocket science is it?Probably run on the expert marketing strategy so prevalent in Thailand that the emptier you are the more you charge for a beer,just to make up the shortfall TiT!

Hi Fren.. yep beer price is always source of perception vs reality and I think you have an excellent memory.

Six years ago before I took over Checkinn99 Chang draft jugs were exactly as you describe and it was often not fresh - expensive beer = empty bar,,,

Since taking over in April 2011 we have had permanently priced 1 litre jugs of Heineken Draft at 199Baht net.. (I sell on average 30 jugs a night). Our house wine is a full 250ml (8floz) serve at 129Baht happy hour / 199Baht non happy hours and we do 800ml long island teas for 375Baht (net). Beer Lao had always been 99Baht during Happy hour (except for a brief period recently when I took it off the menu due to non-availability) - but its back again for the next 2 weeks at 99Baht.

If its your birthday you get a free cake and present. Anniversary / Engagement Free bottle of champagne. We don't charge VAT or Service (we share profit with the staff not tips) Even though I sponsored this forum for 4 years, its pretty clear I really have fallen short on my marketing message, so I really appreciate your feedback. Here's your special offer... if you can find anywhere with live music on lower Sukhumvit with cheaper on the Heineken draft beer.. I will put on a free keg for you and your friends. Come on in anyway as I am all ears for some more marketing advice.. (need to be quick though) ;-)

My wife doesn't know it yet but I just slipped the Beer Lao and San Mig Light back to 99Baht Happy Hour.. ... prices should reflect on the website

[CheckInn99]

If you want to know how to run an expat bar head for Sukhumvit Soi 33/1 and The Royal Oak,Dubliner and Robin Hood,all miles out of the way of the main drag for foreigner hotels and yet mostly packed every night.

If you can't make money in the middle of the foreigner's ghetto for drinking and whoring it really is time to throw in the towel,you're doing it wrong I'm sorry but that is the cold,hard truth!

Hi Fren - I am really liking this thread now. Actually making making money (which I profit share with my staff and band) has not been a problem so you are quite right. Having paid only 72000 baht for the entire bar knowing it would eventually be demolished has also not been an issue. Considering my annual turnover I would say the return on that investment far exceeds any other venue / business I know of. I would happily continue in there for another 10 years if I could.

Despite the whole bar & nightclub scene being altered as land development and increasing rents force changes in any city of the world - there are some arguments for street-scape preservation and some form of urban planning - which Singapore only realized too late. Locally I love the diversity of the places that Bangkok used to offer - much of it is gone now. Yep the Royal Oak is great and hosts the Comedy Club upstairs (but I liked the previous Bull's Head format better) I regularly go to the Robin Hood for lunch and it has a great corner location and loyal following but someone please correct me isn't the Dubliner which was sitting between the two now empty with half the front floor knocked out.

The reason Checkinn99 can't continue is not about money it is because the back of the building is being demolished as a result of poor planning decisions, even the complete block that the Thai Visa Bar New Wave (now empty) occupies which has the same landlord will be knocked down possibly along with the Beer Garden and a new open middle east market put in its place. Come in before we close and I'll share a beer with you and I might even give you a hug.

[MyFrenU]

Checkinn99

I'm not having a go at you but actually my last statement I would probably retract the end of it and here's why : Somebody's already quoted Dylan on this thread so let me quote another classic of his,"The times they are a-changin'"
The global economic landscape is changing beyond recognition,whereas before Asia used to be third-world countries scratching for a living in dust and rice that is no longer the case,Asia is the engine driving the World's economy right now.Thailand was once happy of the business of elderly gentleman looking for a cheap beer and a companion for the night but that idea is now outdated.
They have realised they have to move with the times and attract for instance the new Chinese middle classes and I imagine you can extend that to Indians and Middle-Eastern Arabs,no shortage of them looking to shop in that area.It makes no sense to have places like Soi4,Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy anymore making Thailand infamous as a low-class,cheap booze and hooker joint as we all know it's all about the face in Thailand.
Say your goodbyes to Soi 4,Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy because in 5-10 years time they will be nothing more than a distant memory,IMHO no bad thing for Thailand and Bangkok but I agree it's a shame to not keep the old buildings,like they have in Old Bangkok around Banglamphu and Khao San Road the old shophouses for instance.
If you want to know how Bangkok will look sooner rather than later then go to Shanghai,China where nothing remains that wasn't built after the 1980s,sad maybe but that's what they call progress!

[CheckInn99]

I love it when people try and claim a dingy old farang bar as some sort of heritage landmark. It's almost as funny as when people claim removing the dildo stalls from the pavement is taking away some precious part of local culture.

You're starting to rival MyFrienU in your ignorance of these things.

Would you say such places, and the other places mentioned in this thread are a visible sign of Bangkok's (and Modern Thailand's) period of development and modernisation from the 1950s onwards?

I'm glad people with your staggering levels of ignorance weren't around in the early post-colonial period as some of the stunning architecture to be found around the globe would have been rubble to make way for 'a youthful modern city' a long time ago and not treasured as heritage sites....

Who mentioned dildo stalls?

Actually Meryl, Soi Biker is right there is no meaning or reference point as to what is heritage in Thailand (heaven forbid if it is associated with a bar - particularly one with an old bordello upstairs)...however it seems since the dildo stall opened right outside our front door.. the number of tourists walking past has dramatically increased .. we even use the dildo shop as part of our instructions to concierges of the five star hotels for their guests coming to Checkinn for the first time...get the taxi to drop you off at the corner of Soi 5. Try to avoid the ladyboys hanging around at McDonalds cross the road and it is 30 metres from the corner of Soi 5, when you see the dildo shop hang a leftie (after all you cant see the Landmark hotel anymore as it is obscured by fake watch and machete stalls)

But without getting too sentimental even my wife is impressed at the cultural diversity of the toys on offer at the dildo shop (keeps me on my toes)... I'm sure if some of those stalls disappeared there would be a real uproar. You never know, it might just be the start of a dildo led tourism recovery program...those two ladies in the black Burkas in the bottom right hand corner of the street photo are actually reading the instructions.

Edited June 21, 2016 by CheckInn99

[CheckInn99]

Some incredible images there CheckInn 99. Thanks, also thanks for keeping a bit of BKK history alive for a few years longer. Will you continue elsewhere? If, so all the best in any future ventures.

Thankfully BKK still resembled those shots when I first came in the 1980s so some pretty hefty nostalgia pangs there ( I still recall being able to stand at the soi 4 intersection and being able to see clearly all the way down to Asoke), though that stretch is largely unrecognisable now....thanks to the beloved faceless malls, condos and 5* hotels so beloved of some.......

Hi Meryl - this would have been close the the view you just described... taken from the corner of Soi 4.(where the police box is now) looking towards Asoke mid - late 1960's The Copa (Checkinn99 is on the left just down from the entrance of Soi 5)

(source unknown - apologies if anyone knows the origin please let me know)

Edited June 21, 2016 by CheckInn99

[Beechboy]

Check-Inn had become the place I took ladies to (not necessarily "dates" either) and also first-time visitors to Bkk from the UK.

A balcony table to eat good food, which was decently priced, and then a seat down the steps to watch the floor-show which was universally enjoyed.

A nice uncomplicated night out, not ripped off and it said what it does on the tin.

I am now saddened by it's eminent demise but I won't lose sleep and shall have to find an alternative, whilst keeping an eye on the pubs re-location.

[CheckInn99]

Yeah, I thought the band were pretty slick at what they do. But what they do is bland, cruise ship entertainment.

Cool, a positive take! Yet why the "but?" Their shows aren't spozed to be opera. Just good fun. And nothin wrong with that. I worked cruise ships, too, and while there's a lot of silly stuff there, we also had world-class stuff, Victor Borge, Gary Burton, etc. And CheckInn has world-class people come through all the time. Lots of best-selling authors, probably some you've read, if you read, hang out regularly there. Not just a few, lots.The place is no palace, but what's wrong with that? A little run-down, too funky in some ways, the air conditioning isn't top of the line, but it's real, and there's a real community around it. The jazz jams are uneven, but have really musical moments, the regular rhythm section (all Thai) is very solid, and sometimes some truly stellar players, even big names, drop in and blow me away. The place is happening, that's all I can say. If you don't see it, just don't put down people who do.

The 'but' is because it's a shame to see such obviously talented people performing generic, by the numbers rubbish. Those girls can sing. It would be nice to see what they can do beyond bland karaoke.

Hi Soi Biker.. Thanks so much for the compliments.. we try hard to entertain according to the mix of customers rather than just sing fixed set lists .. be it Sammy Hagar who comes regularly incognito to hear us play van Halen numbers ol'55 or Jump to visitors wanting to hear any of our songs in 20 languages to a couple from the North of England who save up for two years to come and spend 4 nights with us in Bangkok on their holidays.

We dedicate ourselves to making people happy... that's all.

The cruise ship format is actually our most popular and highest return for enjoyment, It is also totally under-serviced in the Bangkok entertainment scene (our facebook.com/checkinn99 tells its own story)... Sorry to disappoint but we are not a pub short-contract cover band that does three 45 minute sets and goes home exhausted - we perform 7 one hour sets each night 7 nights / week and have supported this venue for the last 16 years. We will continue to do so in our new venue. .. Checkinn99 is not for everyone but we know our customers... by name and what music they like. We even happily contributed part of our takings to sponsor this TV thread for 4 years... To followup on your request to see what else we can do please search on youtube "checkinn99 music of the heart - we have put up over 800 clips up there for you to look through. we recorded this specially for you....

Edited June 30, 2016 by CheckInn99

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

So what's the upshot here: CheckInn is closing and won't relocate to any new location, but the house band is going to be relocating elsewhere?

[montrii]

So what's the upshot here: CheckInn is closing and won't relocate to any new location, but the house band is going to be relocating elsewhere?

I don't know details, but have been told they're close to making an agreement for a new place at least for the short term, and it won't be for just the band, but for the whole scene, as much as can be transferred over. But nothing's ever quite the same, we all know that . . . who knows, though, in the end it all might be better! In any case even if this latest possibility falls through, the search goes on. Keep tuned.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Interesting... I don't know any details of their situation. But I thought I read, earlier in this thread, a post by the proprietor that seemed to suggest the bar wasn't going to continue post closure. Perhaps with all the closure publicity, things have shifted.

[harrry]

What I always remember is the dwarf that used to stand at the entrance.

Hi Johnniey Yes that was Summai.. he initially worked in the Nipa Hut and then at Checkinn99 for about 15 years. He unfortunately died in about 2008.

sumai.jpg

checkinn99 history sumai dwarf.PNG

Sad to hear that. Both of them used to smile and wave their hats at me every morning as I walked past going to work. Both of them are really big people.

Edited July 24, 2016 by harrry