Video: Pattaya pubs give a "thumbs up" for 4 am opening

[webfact]

Video: Pattaya pubs give a "thumbs up" for 4 am opening

 

Thai caption: Pattaya nightspots getting ready for 4 am opening

 

77kaoded reported that pubs and clubs in Pattaya are delighted that the government is considering extending the opening hours until 4 am. 

 

A video showed a woman representing the operators expressing her appreciation for the move. 

 

New tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn has proposed that the opening hours be extended from 2 am to 4am in tourist areas. 

 

77kaoded said these would be areas like Silom in Bangkok, Patong in Phuket, Ao Nang in Krabi and Pattaya. 

 

Picture: 77kaoded

 

They went to Walking Street and interviewed Amporn Kaewsaeng who said she was representing the operators.

 

She said that she and her colleagues were happy with the proposals and hope they become a reality. 

 

She believed that by extending opening hours it would be better for all concerned and that they agreed with the government's proposals.

 

She respectfully praised the "phoo yai" (by which she meant politicians) for thinking about Pattaya.

 

Government ministers will now be discussing the proposals. 

 

Source: 77kaoded

 

 

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[BestB]

This woman needs help. Because bars can close at 4, it will bring more tourists is what she says.

 

 

i am sorry you silly woman, few doors up 808, lucifer, ibar just to name a few all open way past 4.

 

try slipping few thousand to police and your bar can also open late but it will not bring you more customers or more tourists into the country 

[SammyT]

This will be nightmare for some of the hotels which are proximate to sois 6, 7 and 8. As it is, some of those bars which are completely empty but for some disinterested looking bar girls still play obnoxiously loud and crappy music until 2am which is easily heard in nearby hotels thanks to zero soundproofing. Your regular tourist won't want to put up with that til 4am. 

[grego49]

There is nobody in the bars at 11pm why worry about staying open till 4am,,,,

[LennyW]

Used to be great when 24 hours was the norm!

[jacko45k]

Darn... not good. I need to be chucked out or I would never get home!

[legend49]

Picture: 77kaoded

 

great photo so many tourists there. Without the 2 groups in swimming gear a dead street.

[Emdog]

" Pattaya pubs give a "thumbs up" for 4 am opening"

someone needs to proofread and have slight understanding it is for 4 Am closing, not opening. Though some would be happy if opening at 4 am I suppose....

[RichardColeman]

I dread to think what Disney looking character will be left for you to take home with you at 4 am ! 

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I dread to think what Disney looking character will be left for you to take home with you at 4 am ! 

The same one you wake up with at midday..... when do they swap over!

[losworld]

desperation now the poor gals will need to stay until 4 am for the measly 200 per day they recieve (reality is this in low season ad they are commissioned on drinks)

[tigerfeet]

4 hours ago, BestB said:

This woman needs help. Because bars can close at 4, it will bring more tourists is what she says.

 

 

i am sorry you silly woman, few doors up 808, lucifer, ibar just to name a few all open way past 4.

 

try slipping few thousand to police and your bar can also open late but it will not bring you more customers or more tourists into the country 

Bet the bar staff are jumping with joy at all that overtime.

[remorhaz]

Are the all the Indians who are going to make up for the tourist short fall on board with this?

[madmen]

Don't known about more tourists but the 2 week millionaire's looking to party will probably spend more and stay until close

[Benmart]

The lack of profit or customers is not remedied by raising prices or staying open later. The patient is dying and the doctor is prescribing aspirin.

[Kerryd]

Lol - back in the late 90s/early 00s, bars could stay open until 6 am and re-open again at 10 am ! I think the 4 hour closure was meant to allow all the other businesses a chance to bring in new stock, get rid of garbage, clean the streets, etc, etc.

 

I remember leaving bars at midnight to go back to the hotel and then jogging past them again at 6 am. (I was still in the military and needed to keep in some kind of shape so I wouldn't die when I got home !)

The same girls still working at the bar and in some cases, the same drunks still anchoring the same bar stools ! Many bars had 2 shifts of girls. The 10am-8pm crew and the 8pm to 6am crew. (I'd noticed that the "day" staff tended to be mostly women that either didn't want to be bar-fined or would rarely even be asked while the "night" crew usually had the better looking women who tended to be more "available".)

Many bars never actually closed. All they did was put the customer's "bin" cup below the counter. If the police came by they'd say the customer was just finishing his last drink (even if it was 2 hours past the time they were supposed to be closed).

In Western bars (at least in Canada) it used to be that come closing time, they'd turn off the music and turn on all the lights. In Thailand they would turn the music down and the lights off to make it harder to tell that they were still open.

I stayed at a hotel down there once, close to the "Buddha Tree". They built a roof over the soi the hotel was on, then they put some stuff in the middle of the soi, then closed the soi off altogether and now that area is basically a bar. (You can still see where the soi used to be by the gap in the sidewalk across from the Sir Marlow clothing shop close to the tree.) Used to be a lot of Arabs in that area for awhile as well.

The hotel was having problems as they could only rent rooms on the south-west side of the building. The north side rooms were exposed to the very loud (blaring) music from the various bars on Walking Street all trying to outdo each other and the rooms on the south-east side had the same problem from the Arab bars. The only time anyone could get any sleep was in the 4 hour window from 6am-10am and without fail, within a minute of the clock hitting 10, the loud music would start blaring again.

That was before they decided to change things and make everyone close at 2am. They sort of enforced it for awhile but within a few months a lot of places were open to 3-3:30, some were quite "open" about it while others at least pretended that they were closed. (Honest ! It was just that their staff were very tired and were taking a long time to clean up, change and leave after their shifts ! Jing jing !)

We used to ride down to Soi Diamond and park the bikes in front of a go-go owned by a friend of ours. We'd tour up and down Walking street until the bars closed, then move down in front of a restaurant owned by another friend. Some guy had one of those portable "bar carts" that he'd set up in the entrance way to the restaurant (and we could still use the bathrooms which was a bonus). Then we'd watch the stream of girls going home and maybe try to pick up the odd cute one (weren't too many left at that hour of the morning).

It was better than watching TV as well ! Downright hilarious at times.

Round about 5ish, things died down to the point we'd usually call it quits and ride home. Yeah, that was before all the police checks and "20,000 baht" fines. It was also back during the times when 95% of the customers on Walking Street were Aussie/American/Canadian/Euro/Scandanavian. 

I seriously doubt extending the bar hours is going to attract more tourists, especially if they are targetting their tourism campaigns at the Indian/Chinese markets. You know, the people that AREN'T going to the bars and spending money in the first place ! (But some of them do seem to like "shopping" along Beach Road in the wee hours of the morning !)
But of course, they (the authorities) DON'T want the people that DO go to the bars and DO spend money, because they are also the ones that all those poor farm girls from Isaan tend to fall in love with (right before the family buffalo suddenly falls ill) !
It's a double-edged sword. 
10-20 years ago, Pattaya was making money like they were printing it on every soi. Many of the malls, condos and other establishments built recently were planned, designed and started back in that "era", when it seemed that there was no where to go but up ! 
I remember when I first used to hang out on Walking Street, there was barely a dozen "go-gos" and the street basically ended at that Big Buddha tree (wasn't anything past that worth seeing except a few shops and restaurants back then).
A few years ago there were over 75 go-gos I think it was, not counting places like LK Metro. It was a big thing when the first "go-go" started up outside of Walking Street (at the beach end of soi 7 I think it was). Just like when the first one opened in Jomtien and on Soi Bhukhao.

But things changed. It wasn't the bar hours that screwed things up though. It was the "demographic". A whole different type of tourist started filling the streets. Ones that either travelled exclusively in tour groups and spend almost no money at all, or travelled in small groups and spend even less.

Friend of mine used to run 3 go-gos and 4 beer bars on Walking Street. He's down to one beer bar now (dropped the leases on the rest as they weren't making money anymore but the owners wanted to jack up the price anyways). Another guy sold one of his restaruants, which turned into an Indian restaurant which has closed and that area is now something completely different. Couple other guys closed their shops as they simply couldn't afford to keep them open anymore.

When I talk to people that still have businesses down there, it's the same thing every time. Lots of people on the street - but almost no one spending any money ! And the ones that are spending money are from the "demographic" that Thailand doesn't seem to want coming here.
(Contrast that with the crowd you see on soi LK Metro every night. I don't go there very often but when I do it reminds of what Walking Street used to look like.)

I'm still waiting to see what transpires. On one hand, things could slowly, painfully, progress towards the "family friendly" resort that some envisage. However, there are already a plethora of those places around and Pattaya doesn't offer anything that those other places don't already have.

Or there could be a shift in the upper ranks (of the "authorities") and some subtle changes that start reviving the "night life" aspect that made Pattaya famous in the first place.

 

Look at Amsterdam. Or Hamburg (the Reaper Bahn). Or Budapest. They all have their "nightlife" and "naughty" sides, but also have an array of other attractions. Enough so that you can ignore the "naughty" stuff (or pretend to ignore, depending who you are with at the time) and still have a great time.

Years ago we compiled a list of over 60 things you could see and do in Pattaya without going near Walking Street or a go-go/beer bar. I'm sure there are dozens of more things that could be added to that list as well by now.

 

So basically, you don't have to kill of the the "naughty" side of Pattaya to make it successfull or to attract more tourists and changing the bar hours isn't going to help a lot either.

You basically have to identify the demographic that is going to spend the most money while on vacation and target them with your promos. You don't even have to mention the "naughty" stuff. They'll find out about that on their own once they get here ! And then they'll probably be wishing they'd known about that sooner (as they start to make plans to come back again as soon as possible).

It's been mentioned before though, targeting "quantity" over "quality" isn't going to cut it. Going after 10 people that might spend 1,000 baht in a week (combined) instead of going after 2 people that might spend 3-4,000 a night (each) might make your "Arrivals" numbers look good, but it sure ain't going to help your GDP !

But hey, read enough threads on TV and pretty soon you'll believe that all the "expats" have already left and that's why there's no one spending any money any more ! (Nevermind that all the people who claim to be leaving or to have already left are doing so - or did so - because they couldn't afford to be here in the first place and therefore probably weren't spending much - anywhere - to begin with !)

I just hope it doesn't take another 10 years for things to get back to the "good old days" again ! Would be like winning the lottery - when you are too old to enjoy it anymore !
 

[lust]

Who’s still out drinking at 4am? All the hotties are already at home getting banged. The only thing out at this hour is trouble.

[dotpoom]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Video: Pattaya pubs give a "thumbs up" for 4 am opening

I think that should be?.. 4 am... closing?

[bkkflynnsta]

"Fantastic! This is the spark of hope I've been waiting for to bring my toddler to the clean and family-friendly shores of Pattaya!

Good thing that its such a safe place at night for my teenage kids, too!  Can hardly wait to sail right through LoS' efficient and friendly immigration lines.

This is sure to get those tourism numbers back up to a healthy level!!" - said no informed Thailand traveller, ever.

[Beggar]

This is great news. Now the noisy bars can be even empty until 4 and annoy endless people who try to sleep. A really great family resort made for party and sex tourists. 

 

 

[Ddbanksy]

5 hours ago, LennyW said:

Used to be great when 24 hours was the norm!

Good memories,good crack,no clock watching,how a pub should be

[Tony125]

When I first came here in 2000 the bars along Walking Street were all open to at least 4 AM. What should be done is zone it ass adult only area and hire Police ( called a detail in US ) to chek ID's and watch for beligerant drunks. Can have family areas and adult area for sexpats. Boggles  my mind when I see EU parents strolling down Walking Street with their kids in tow and then writing about how depraved  Pattaya is. Why take your kids down to that area?

[Beggar]

12 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

Boggles  my mind when I see EU parents strolling down Walking Street with their kids in tow and then writing about how depraved  Pattaya is. Why take your kids down to that area?

If you want to avoid bars and the sex business in Pattaya then you have to avoid Pattaya. Not even on the Beach Road you can walk. The city center is full of bars and also endless others places.

[dallen52]

1 hour ago, Benmart said:

The lack of profit or customers is not remedied by raising prices or staying open later. The patient is dying and the doctor is prescribing aspirin.

Its paracetamol...

Ask any thai patient. 

All they get is paracetamol ????

[Tony125]

6 minutes ago, Beggar said:

If you want to avoid bars and the sex business in Pattaya then you have to avoid Pattaya. Not even on the Beach Road you can walk. The city center is full of bars and also endless others places.

Not really, soi 6---7, Walking Street and side streets could have topless go-go or even nude (inside bar ) or whatever but clubs outside those Zones could have dancers (maybe ) outside but no nudity or suggetive photos.

[mok199]

Those thieving ladyboys will love the xtra OT

[sunnyboy2018]

5 hours ago, LennyW said:

Used to be great when 24 hours was the norm!

Yep

[sunnyboy2018]

24 minutes ago, Beggar said:

If you want to avoid bars and the sex business in Pattaya then you have to avoid Pattaya. Not even on the Beach Road you can walk. The city center is full of bars and also endless others places.

Why should you wish to avoid what you call the sex business? Its not compulsory to indulge. Holland,  Germany, New Zealand and many other places have thriving liberal and legal sex businesses. Anyway  methinks you exaggerate. 

[sunnyboy2018]

45 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

When I first came here in 2000 the bars along Walking Street were all open to at least 4 AM. What should be done is zone it ass adult only area and hire Police ( called a detail in US ) to chek ID's and watch for beligerant drunks. Can have family areas and adult area for sexpats. Boggles  my mind when I see EU parents strolling down Walking Street with their kids in tow and then writing about how depraved  Pattaya is. Why take your kids down to that area?

They probably dont write about it at all. There is nothing to see on WS that you cant see on any beach in most of the world. The Europeans are more sophisticated and less sexually repressed than Americans, many of whom have an evangelical, puritanical agenda.

[sunnyboy2018]

1 hour ago, bkkflynnsta said:

"Fantastic! This is the spark of hope I've been waiting for to bring my toddler to the clean and family-friendly shores of Pattaya!

Good thing that its such a safe place at night for my teenage kids, too!  Can hardly wait to sail right through LoS' efficient and friendly immigration lines.

This is sure to get those tourism numbers back up to a healthy level!!" - said no informed Thailand traveller, ever.

Dont take your kids out at night. They should be in bed and you should stay at home looking after them. However, many parents understand that kids cant be shielded from everything and part of growing up is confronting realities. I wonder though  if you actually have any children or are just making rhetorical outrage.