Day after law banning street food in Thong Lor takes effect, streets are a ghost town (PHOTOS)

By Laurel Tuohy

 

Photos: Laurel Tuohy/Coconuts

 

BANGKOK: -- We took a walk on Soi Thong Lor (Sukhumvit Soi 55) last night to see how many vendors were observing the new law banning street food in their ‘hood.

 

The law took effect on Monday, which was part of the Songkran holiday and the one day of the week when vendors were prohibited to sell anyway. We thought we would find at least a few vendors that weren’t observing the law and had set up their stalls with the intention of moving quickly if the police showed up. Instead, we found… nothing.

 

Strips of the main street that are usually so congested with food stalls that you have to walk around them into dangerous traffic were deserted.

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/food-drink/day-law-banning-street-food-thong-lor-takes-effect-streets-ghost-town-photos/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-04-19

So, before the streets were full of street vendors on the pavement , now they have been banned from the pavement.............and now they are not there anymore .

   Thats hardly surprising 

7 minutes ago, sanemax said:

.and now they are not there anymore ...    Thats hardly surprising 

 

the extra bonus is: You may walk on the pavement now, my dream of umpteen years!

I feel sorry for all the rats and cockroaches , where will they get a feed from now?

11 minutes ago, sanemax said:

So, before the streets were full of street vendors on the pavement , now they have been banned from the pavement.............and now they are not there anymore .

   Thats hardly surprising 

Empty street enjoy yourself 554

4 minutes ago, thurien said:

 

the extra bonus is: You may walk on the pavement now, my dream of umpteen years!

Youll be the only one 555

ah ......   fantastic ,    can walk along the footpath as it was intended .. and not be blocked, hindered and forced onto the roadway.   Well done  !!!

8 minutes ago, nakhon thai said:

Empty street enjoy yourself 554

 

Not empty, robbers.

Just now, PoorSucker said:

 

Not empty, robbers.

Better vendors lighting up the streets why live here, if all people what is change 

Now the pavements are free for the motorcycle taxis to use it to pass by the dangerous traffic 

The people have spoken...

Just now, onthesoi said:

The people have spoken...

........erm, they're not allowed to any more.

30 minutes ago, thurien said:

 

the extra bonus is: You may walk on the pavement now, my dream of umpteen years!

Mind the  motorbikes!!!

It will be interesting to see what subsequently happens. Lots of people ate here and lots of people made their living here. For every person happy that the pavement is clear I suspect there will be many more unhappy about the lack of quick and cheap food to eat. Not to mention those who have lost their livelihood.

The last paragraph of the full article may give a clue as to who is pulling the strings on the implementation of this law:

 

"Nui, a woman who spoke nid noi English and was handing out massage flyers on the street, knew about the law but was not concerned. She said she used to frequent the food stalls but now “I’ll get something at 7 [Eleven],” she said as she fanned herself with her stack of flyers in the hot Bangkok night on the largely deserted street."

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

So, before the streets were full of street vendors on the pavement , now they have been banned from the pavement.............and now they are not there anymore .

   Thats hardly surprising 

And they will set up in the street...

Why dont all the vendors get together and open a food court or something ?

 

1 hour ago, onthesoi said:

The people have spoken...

Maybe something like "the Bangkok restaurant association has spoken"

1 hour ago, onthesoi said:

The people have spoken...

 

Judging from the photo, they're avoiding the place like the plague.  

 

What's that tell you about the level of public benefits before and after the ban?

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

It will be interesting to see what subsequently happens. Lots of people ate here and lots of people made their living here. For every person happy that the pavement is clear I suspect there will be many more unhappy about the lack of quick and cheap food to eat. Not to mention those who have lost their livelihood.

I am sure over time they will creep back. Laws were made to be broken. 

I walked down Thonglor yesterday during the day and saw a number of food vendors plying their trade.

2 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

........erm, they're not allowed to any more.

 

....erm, really?  Don't believe everything you read on the interwebz, especially on TV.

 

I voted, Yes! even falang were allowed to vote on the street vendors loitering up the pavement.

 

 

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

Why dont all the vendors get together and open a food court or something ?

 

would you like to chip in some money?  sukhumvit isn't exactly affordable for these vendors to rent and open up a foot court....

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

Why dont all the vendors get together and open a food court or something ?

 

yeah all the need to do is get enough money together to buy/lease the land and build a shelter. 

 

i wonder whay they havent thought of that before.

 

better yet they could all rent/lease actual restaurants and open 5 star eateries and gastro pubs selling craft beer and royal standard thai food.

 

max you may be an idiot savant, a veritable rain man of the restaurant world.

 

and here was me think you were just an idiot. 

 

how very wrong i was.

The government is trying to get Bangkok look like Singapore, which is pretty charmless.  Part of the appeal for tourists was the street food and all that goes with it.  Guess we'll see fewer European and American backpackers dining in the streets and more Chinese and Korean tourists dining in the malls.  Sad day IMHO.

It is no surprise that they have cleared out because the ThongLor cops have a a well deserved reputation.

 

1 hour ago, mike324 said:

would you like to chip in some money?  sukhumvit isn't exactly affordable for these vendors to rent and open up a foot court....

The rent for a food shop along Sukhumvit was 5000 baht per month last time I was in Bangkok. That was the cost of a stall, on the side of the road, not a shop or food court. And no, it is not paid officially, thats the brown envelope price.

Who is walking on a pavement in Thailand?
Only grumpy and pesky foreigners that always moan and complain about everything that is not like in their home country.

Looks perfect for a nice motorcycle ride.

1 hour ago, farang2002 said:

The government is trying to get Bangkok look like Singapore, which is pretty charmless.  Part of the appeal for tourists was the street food and all that goes with it.  Guess we'll see fewer European and American backpackers dining in the streets and more Chinese and Korean tourists dining in the malls.  Sad day IMHO.

No, the government is trying to get the streets clean and the sidewalks back to what they are there for - to walk on rather than be blocked with diners. Being made to walk in the gutter instead of the sidewalks isn't my view of charming.