Demolishing the historic British Embassy to make way for a shopping center

[beautifulthailand99]

Don't worry in less than 50 years the Chao Praya would have taken it anyway. 

 

[sungod]

53 minutes ago, friend of siam said:

maybe the receice a free office 10 sqm in the new shopping centre...the sign say 3 rd floor behind the ladys toilets

I'm told you can do most things at 7-11 these days.

[apetryxx]

As a Yank, I’ve always appreciated the way my British cousins built memorable buildings with beautiful grounds throughout Asia. Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and yes Bangkok. What a crying shame to destroy that beautiful setting for another cookie cutter concrete mess.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, GarryP said:

Another shopping center? Really? As if there aren't enough already. The market is not saturated, its bloody flooded with them.

Agreed... should have turned it into a green park area for locals & tourists to escape the inner city...

but hey no profit to be made out of that !

[cnx355]

4 hours ago, GarryP said:

Another shopping center? Really? As if there aren't enough already. The market is not saturated, its bloody flooded with them.

Possibly the Thai credit card market still available    and the population total  debt   is not at maximum yet... So let have another mall.

[crazyk]

The british embassey will rent a small office in a large complex where you cannot get more than 5 people in so appointments are gonna take a lot longer than before,the british embassey in kuala lumpur is same but they're not as busy as bangkok but in my experience very quick,helpful & not surly like their bangkok counterparts,as i said in a previous post i had to renew my passport,bangkok would have nothing to do with it,i made an appointment with kl,it was friday & got a reply straight away,my appointment was sorted for 8am monday,they let me use their computer but if your not clued up they will help you,my new passport arrived 8 days later,fastest on record where bangkok would take a minimum 6 weeks

[DUNROAMIN]

4 hours ago, GarryP said:

Another shopping center? Really? As if there aren't enough already. The market is not saturated, its bloody flooded with them.

Reporter asks developer " Did you do any market research on whether this new shopping was viable"? Developer "market research, please explain.!!

[Redline]

The fake and temporary are cherished more here

[Time to grow]

Hopefully they tear down the prison like monument to totalitarian regimes, the US Embassy while there at it. I am no fan of malls but in this case just about anything would be an improvement.

[sawadee1947]

Good idea to remove such rubbish. 

[transam]

Just now, sawadee1947 said:

Good idea to remove such rubbish. 

Having a bad day.....?

[natway09]

This is a very sad day.

I am not sure they should have been allowed to sell it for a one time "balance the budget".

IT WAS GIVEN TO THEM to use forever as an Embassy.

I bet the Royal Thai Crown Dept is not happy about it  & they should not be,

Stupid Brits,,,, anything for a buck

 

[phantomfiddler]

Oh the sadness ???? The best parties in Bangkok were played out on these grounds, so sad !

[QPRFC]

Money and greed is ruining this world. From sport, global warming, corporations and history.

 

The bing bong of 7-11 on this site looms

[tifino]

The Embassy would no doubt have hosted, back at the end of WW2;  'that' British vice regal visit...

 - the one when Thailand got the bad-little-boy spanking for being a part of the Axis, and of the receiving of stolen lands... and the having to give most of it back to the neighbours.

 

It is all on British Pathe, one of their post-ww2 newsreels

 

but anyways, the locals would deep down be happy to be rid of something big, in their face daily, that represented that low era in their history...

 

 

[RJRS1301]

No more string quartets in the gardens, no more free gin, but times change

Wonder where the "state banquets" will be held now?

[Almer]

4 hours ago, Vacuum said:

And same/identical stuff are sold in all of them.

sold,  define the word sold, you can walk around any Mall , a few people walking taking pictures of themselves outside a designer store but very few carrying anything other than there photo phone

[Dogmatix]

As foreign minister Boris reportedly said this sale was wrong and promised not to sell more family silver abroad. After hard Brexit the British government will, in reality, be even more hard up resulting in more vandalism of this type.

[Almer]

8 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

No more string quartets in the gardens, no more free gin, but times change

Wonder where the "state banquets" will be held now?

Ibis or similar 

[beautifulthailand99]

3 minutes ago, Almer said:

sold,  define the word sold, you can walk around any Mall , a few people walking taking pictures of themselves outside a designer store but very few carrying anything other than there photo phone

The few super rich Sino-Thai families who own Thailand have numerous businesses many less glamorous than malls that make their fortunes. Malls are their bling to show off to other families how much wealth and status they have , they don't necessarily have to make money but that is a bonus and they are well capable of withstanding any downturn. 

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, Aforek said:

Always sad to see historic buildings demolished

they are often beautiful and have a history ( our history ! ) 

British history is nothing to be proud of, about two thirds of the world will vouch for that.

[Dogmatix]

I was reliably informed that it was the senior patriarch of the Chirativat family, who is in his 80s, who insisted on getting Queen Vic as part of the deal.  The younger Chirativats and the jv partner, Hong Kong Land, expressed no interest in her whatsoever.  It stands to reason that the Queen Victoria theme park in the middle of the new shopping mall will not survive the old man, unless it turns out to be a big crowd puller.  Anyway no theme lasts forever in retail which is subject to constant renovation to remain competitive.  It stands to reason that the statue will be melted down in the fullness of time.     

[RJRS1301]

1 minute ago, Dogmatix said:

I was reliably informed that it was the senior patriarch of the Chirativat family, who is in his 80s, who insisted on getting Queen Vic as part of the deal.  The younger Chirativats and the jv partner, Hong Kong Land, expressed no interest in her whatsoever.  It stands to reason that the Queen Victoria theme park in the middle of the new shopping mall will not survive the old man, unless it turns out to be a big crowd puller.  Anyway no theme lasts forever in retail which is subject to constant renovation to remain competitive.  It stands to reason that the statue will be melted down in the fullness of time.     

mmm Tasteful, a QV "theme park">> will there be a piercing studio there for those who want a PA??

[watcharacters]

3 hours ago, gregchambers said:

But aren't embassy grounds a gift of the country they sit in, so really the money should go back to Thailand? Also, why didn't the embassy retain the land and offer Central a 30 year lease... in 30 years time it would be worth an awful lot more,,, or maybe they figure Bangkok will be flooded out and the land worthless?

 

Your point makes sense to me.     Maybe the British government simply wanted the cash ASAP.    A lease would have been good for retaining the land but sadly that wouldn't have mattered in terms of saving a beautiful  historical building.

[Dogmatix]

In fact the Queen Victoria statue was not even British government property to sell.  It was the property of British residents of Bangkok who paid for it through public subscription. The government paid not a penny for it.  At the old embassy it was outside in the street where the locals could access it but during the move to Ploenchit it was moved inside, although initially locals were allowed access that part of the embassy grounds which was in front of the residence.  In fact the British government has sold off something that didn't belong to it and it was only looking after.  A disgrace considering both the British Club and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission offered to accommodate the statue, either of which would have better reflected its ownership by the British community, rather than selling it to sweeten a business deal for the government's benefit. 

[mrfill]

2 hours ago, sungod said:

Yep, the actual 'Embassy is there until the new one opens up in Sathorn

[Bangkok Barry]

3 hours ago, geoffbezoz said:

So if they have demolished the embassy, where is it now ? As the last part of this article states the proceeds from sale will be used to relocate to a new embassy this year yet the website is still saying it is in Wittyu.  Also some of my friends said it was still there not too long ago when they visited, so were they wrong, or is it only a mirage an embassy is still there ?

https://history.blog.gov.uk/2019/04/15/the-british-embassy-bangkok-a-look-back-before-moving-on/

 

The Embassy will probably be a table in the corner of a 'British' pub.

[Dogmatix]

1 hour ago, DLock said:

These "taxpayer" arguments are plain dumb.

 

I have no idea who paid for the initial land or construction, but lets assume it was the British Government on behalf of taxpayers. The money will go back to the British Government to be used for more taxpayer services, whether in Thailand for a new Embassy or back in the UK.

 

Call it greed. Call it what you want. But land was for sale, Central group bought it, and they can do what they want with it. Central Group are not hurting for money, so pretty sure they know what they are doing. 

 

They sold the land of the original embassy on the river, which was the centre of Bangkok then, to the Siamese government as the King wished to build his new General Post Office there. The proceeds would have been more than enough to buy the land on Ploenchit from Nai Lert which was only rice fields out in the sticks at the time.  Probably a bridging loan was arranged by Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Presumably the original money to buy the land on the river from the King I think was British taxpayers money.  Not sure how things worked then. With colonies in India, Burma, Singapore and Malaya possibly funds were transferred from one of the colonies. 

 

[meshborg]

Its tragic but no real surprise.If it was a buddhist temple would have been saved.Anything else they dont care 

[nong38]

When the PM goes on about traditions and customs I  can see that but it seems that buildings don't even rate, there its all about money making things round, it should have been a listed building, they would take a different view with Temples would they not, very sad demise of a wonderful old style building.