News Forum - Will Thailand’s nightlife survive another 2 months of closure?

[Stonker]

1 hour ago, Transam said:

OK, you win, are you Thai by any chance..........

Thank you ... and 'no'

[Stonker]

I see your friends in the band are the only ones wearing masks, @Malc-Thai- another disaster waiting to happen, but probably not to the selfish bar-stewards having a good time.

I don't begrudge them the good time, but it's the rest of the country who'll suffer.

[Malc-Thai]

23 minutes ago, Stonker said:

I see your friends in the band are the only ones wearing masks, @Malc-Thai- another disaster waiting to happen, but probably not to the selfish bar-stewards having a good time.

I don't begrudge them the good time, but it's the rest of the country who'll suffer.

There is quite a mixture of thais and tourists in each music bar.. I often get on stage and jam with them and make sure I wear my mask in these crowded indoor bars, but to busy so now just avoiding them.. one music  friend was sick recently he took an atk and positive! he just sat it out at home until test was clear .. I'm surprised it's not gone 'pear shaped' here yet

Edited November 15, 2021 by Malc-Thai

[LoongFred]

On 11/14/2021 at 5:24 PM, Cabra said:

The oldest profession has always survived, and will continue to survive, it will just won't look like it did in 2019 ("what was may never be again"). 

It's all on line now. It's been that way for a while now. At least if you want quality. The leftovers are still doing what they did.

 Ask the guy in Hua hin, or try Thai tinder. I can't give advice, but can only report what I've heard. 

[LoongFred]

On 11/14/2021 at 9:19 PM, Stardust said:

Your sense, open eyes and sure when you live in Thailand you have your experience and know it by yourself and with a Thaifamily anyway. But at the moment there are many who advocate any dumb actions who everybody with common sense and not lost his mind it is absolute dumb and then posting absurd false infos about Thailand and the reality. And they tell the ones who grow up in Thailand that they know it better what the Thais are thinking and about Thailand. They even dont get it that the young generation not lost any common sense here and the majority not agree about all dumb action and worry about the situation. 

Huh! As a native English speaker, I have no idea what you are trying to say. Maybe you need to try again in the morning.

[LoongFred]

Regarding survival, I say can it reinvent itself to current needs. That is in the post pub focus can it find a nitch that reaches the new focus of Thailand being high quality and family focused. The focus only on alcohol and xxx, only discourages other development.

[UncleFatBloke]

On 11/13/2021 at 3:54 PM, JohninDubin said:

If you are right, and I've no reason to doubt you, we will indeed see new entrants into the fray. At times like this "cash is king", and without the encumbrance of "goodwill" and many landlords competing for a relatively smaller pool of potential tenants, it might initially be a boom time for the new entrants, I would add though, I don't expect to see the same type of numbers as there were before. Pattaya in particular was reported to have 3k bars, and my guess is that it will struggle to get back to 2k.

3K of bars, haha. There WERE 15K bars in Pattaya!

I think it will take 3-5 years to get 2019 tourist levels again, but no way will there EVR be 15K bars in Pattaya again! 

[LoongFred]

8 minutes ago, Transam said:

Why is that, I mean, do you think folk who did run girlie bars will divert to bouncy castles.

I would have thought every avenue of tourist fun stuff should be catered for to attract the maximum number of tourists....

Even the stuff you say you never do or places you never frequent.......

Maybe they'll move on to greener pastures. However, most will probably go broke.

[JohninDublin]

2 hours ago, UncleFatBloke said:

3K of bars, haha. There WERE 15K bars in Pattaya!

I think it will take 3-5 years to get 2019 tourist levels again, but no way will there EVR be 15K bars in Pattaya again! 

I don't know what your source is for 15k. I can no longer find my original source for 3k, though I've found several saying "over 1k".

But let's just consider 15k for a minute. The bulk of the bars are Soi 1, 6,7,8, W/St. Beach Rd and 2nd Rd. I once did a count on Soi 7, and it came out at just under 300. There are an estimated 80 GoGo bars on W/St. I am not even sure if my original figure of 3k is realistic. based on that.

Now add in that there are an estimated 27k working girls in Pattaya. If you eliminate all the FL's and presume all are B/gs, this gives an average if 1.8 girls per bar. I don't think so.

If there are 15k bars in Pattaya, I'd have to think that most are very well hidden.

[Stonker]

10 hours ago, LoongFred said:

Huh! As a native English speaker, I have no idea what you are trying to say. Maybe you need to try again in the morning.

Than God for that - I thought it was just me !

[gummy]

1 hour ago, JohninDubin said:

I don't know what your source is for 15k. I can no longer find my original source for 3k, though I've found several saying "over 1k".

But let's just consider 15k for a minute. The bulk of the bars are Soi 1, 6,7,8, W/St. Beach Rd and 2nd Rd. I once did a count on Soi 7, and it came out at just under 300. There are an estimated 80 GoGo bars on W/St. I am not even sure if my original figure of 3k is realistic. based on that.

Now add in that there are an estimated 27k working girls in Pattaya. If you eliminate all the FL's and presume all are B/gs, this gives an average if 1.8 girls per bar. I don't think so.

If there are 15k bars in Pattaya, I'd have to think that most are very well hidden.

Well it does not matter whether there are/were 300/3000/30000 bars in Pattaya the number is meaningless. What is not meaningless however is the indirect income the bars brought in.  The ancillary workers providing food services to the bar workers -mostly gone. The ancillary workers providing makeup/nail/hair and other beauty products - mostly gone, motor bike taxi services- very much reduced. . I could go on but it was estimated that for every person working in the bar was on average providing income for 6 other ancillary support people.

So it is just not the ladies and gentlemen managing and working in the bars but 6 times that number are now basically without  or with a subsistence income. Let me remind you that whilst some of the work may offend the utter prudes and ignorant these workers have possibly a much higher level of responsibility to looking after their families as many can not imagine.  Of course the trolls and others with no understanding of the true plight of these people will pop up with inept and ignorant replies but at the end of the day they, just like you and me, are human beings who have to survive, yet the plight of these people is shamefully  ignored by this government and others whose examples of corruption and depravity make bar workers in general look like angels.. 

[Stonker]

2 hours ago, gummy said:

Well it does not matter whether there are/were 300/3000/30000 bars in Pattaya the number is meaningless. What is not meaningless however is the indirect income the bars brought in.  The ancillary workers providing food services to the bar workers -mostly gone. The ancillary workers providing makeup/nail/hair and other beauty products - mostly gone, motor bike taxi services- very much reduced. . I could go on but it was estimated that for every person working in the bar was on average providing income for 6 other ancillary support people.

So it is just not the ladies and gentlemen managing and working in the bars but 6 times that number are now basically without  or with a subsistence income. Let me remind you that whilst some of the work may offend the utter prudes and ignorant these workers have possibly a much higher level of responsibility to looking after their families as many can not imagine.  Of course the trolls and others with no understanding of the true plight of these people will pop up with inept and ignorant replies but at the end of the day they, just like you and me, are human beings who have to survive, yet the plight of these people is shamefully  ignored by this government and others whose examples of corruption and depravity make bar workers in general look like angels.. 

I understand the sentiment and agree to a considerable extent, but times change and so places and people have to change and adapt too - if they don't they just get left behind.

I've moved on from bars for a long time, not because I'm an "utter prude" (or even a minor prude) but because I'm now happy without them - but the "entertainment" scene's changed too.

Friends who used to window shop and shop around the bars now do most of their "entertainment" shopping on line and cut out the middlemen.

Times change, and maybe Pattaya needs to too.

[Rip255]

Its worrying to say the least. Some more nuanced debate on the value of widespread alcoholism and prostitution to Thai society is warranted without idle threats on message boards such as these.

I try to cut the barflys a bit of slack. Their whole way of life has gone from threatened, to endangered and now extinct in Thailand.

The reality is these guys are supporting an industry which destroys Thailands international image and is a source of great shame to most Thais. 

As a result, respectable tourists who want to visit zoos, malls and restauraunts are avoiding the country while the less distinguished travellers are attracted to it.

For every bargirl that loses her job, another 3 jobs will be created in more respectable professions once the high quality tourists feel comfortable selecting Thailand for their holiday destination.

Have a great day Thaiger Talk friends!

[LoongFred]

12 hours ago, gummy said:

Well it does not matter whether there are/were 300/3000/30000 bars in Pattaya the number is meaningless. What is not meaningless however is the indirect income the bars brought in.  The ancillary workers providing food services to the bar workers -mostly gone. The ancillary workers providing makeup/nail/hair and other beauty products - mostly gone, motor bike taxi services- very much reduced. . I could go on but it was estimated that for every person working in the bar was on average providing income for 6 other ancillary support people.

So it is just not the ladies and gentlemen managing and working in the bars but 6 times that number are now basically without  or with a subsistence income. Let me remind you that whilst some of the work may offend the utter prudes and ignorant these workers have possibly a much higher level of responsibility to looking after their families as many can not imagine.  Of course the trolls and others with no understanding of the true plight of these people will pop up with inept and ignorant replies but at the end of the day they, just like you and me, are human beings who have to survive, yet the plight of these people is shamefully  ignored by this government and others whose examples of corruption and depravity make bar workers in general look like angels.. 

This is called the multiplier effect and is present in most professions. The office worker needs cloths, lunch, transportation as do bar workers. You assumption that bar workers passing on will have a ripple affect is only true for specific jobs, but overall the effect is not the same. 

Generally the bar/pub culture is dying in Pattaya and elsewhere so those addicted to that scene are in trouble and  may leave.

Thais are very resilient people and even the bar people will find other opertunities. The bar scene was created by foreign demand and that demand is changing.

The bar scene may persist on life support but times change and it also needs to change.

[Faraday]

9 minutes ago, LoongFred said:

This is called the multiplier effect and is present in most professions. The office worker needs cloths, lunch, transportation as do bar workers. You assumption that bar workers passing on will have a ripple affect is only true for specific jobs, but overall the effect is not the same. 

Generally the bar/pub culture is dying in Pattaya and elsewhere so those addicted to that scene are in trouble and  may leave.

Thais are very resilient people and even the bar people will find other opertunities. The bar scene was created by foreign demand and that demand is changing.

The bar scene may persist on life support but times change and it also needs to change.

Sigh of relief from you then, Fred...na?

[FreddyD]

On 11/13/2021 at 5:08 AM, Malc-Thai said:

Totally agree. Security, they do a temperature check each end of the street and vaccination checks (thai only) then masks off! 

We go for a walk there to a couple of friends bars but early before it gets too busy (not pre covid busy). and sit outside.. it gets more packed at weekends,  which seems to show expats or people living here going.. more than the everyday holidaying tourist..

If their temperature is checked and hopefully are vaccinated,  the risk is quite low.

[Malc-Thai]

51 minutes ago, FreddyD said:

If their temperature is checked and hopefully are vaccinated,  the risk is quite low.

There was a cluster of 8 that had used a restaurant in bangla road found over the weekend. They were told to just go home and isolate..

How about the people that are not vaccinated that they go home to. especially infected people that don't know.

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/national-health-deputy-inspects-bangla-82037.php

Edited November 17, 2021 by Malc-Thai

[UncleFatBloke]

On 11/16/2021 at 5:19 PM, JohninDubin said:

I don't know what your source is for 15k. I can no longer find my original source for 3k, though I've found several saying "over 1k".

But let's just consider 15k for a minute. The bulk of the bars are Soi 1, 6,7,8, W/St. Beach Rd and 2nd Rd. I once did a count on Soi 7, and it came out at just under 300. There are an estimated 80 GoGo bars on W/St. I am not even sure if my original figure of 3k is realistic. based on that.

Now add in that there are an estimated 27k working girls in Pattaya. If you eliminate all the FL's and presume all are B/gs, this gives an average if 1.8 girls per bar. I don't think so.

If there are 15k bars in Pattaya, I'd have to think that most are very well hidden.

All you talk about is Soi 1 to Walikng St. Beach rd to Second Rd! Jesus mate it is no wonder you don't get past 3K of bars! Between second road and third road and between Klang and Thai there are/were at least 1,000 bars.

Then you go East of third road and up to Sukhumvit, an area I bet you have never been! There are hundreds of bars there.

Heard of the Dark Side? 

North of Terminal 21?

South of Pattaya Thai/East of third road?

Pattaya is aLOT more than just Beach road and Walking st!!

[hondo]

the only solution is to ban bars and alcohol permanently and open thousands of weed cafes. 

[NCC1701A]

just reading that the Thai government yesterday is considering to allow bars and entertain to open again before Jan 15th. just bla bla so far. 

sorry no link. 

[billywillyjones]

1 hour ago, NCC1701A said:

just reading that the Thai government yesterday is considering to allow bars and entertain to open again before Jan 15th. just bla bla so far. 

sorry no link. 

that cannot be this is a decisive competent govt....

[JohninDublin]

5 hours ago, UncleFatBloke said:

All you talk about is Soi 1 to Walikng St. Beach rd to Second Rd! Jesus mate it is no wonder you don't get past 3K of bars! Between second road and third road and between Klang and Thai there are/were at least 1,000 bars.

Then you go East of third road and up to Sukhumvit, an area I bet you have never been! There are hundreds of bars there.

Heard of the Dark Side? 

North of Terminal 21?

South of Pattaya Thai/East of third road?

Pattaya is aLOT more than just Beach road and Walking st!!

I am well aware that there are clusters of bars all over Pattaya. But if there are nearly 300 on Soi 7/BR, then you need 50 Soi 7's to reach 15k. I don't think so. Can you produce any searches that state above 3k? I've looked and I can't.

Then of course, there is also the question of "staffing". Most estimates I've seen regarding "working girls" are  about 27k. As I've already pointed out, that would give just 1.8 girls per bar and that presumes that there are no FL's. Now factor in that most of these bars are open 12 hrs and quite a few, never close. If the modal figure is 6-8 girls per bar, then you'd need upwards of 150k girls to staff these. Again I don't think so.

[LoongFred]

How many expat put their entire retirement saving into a bar, because that's where they wanted to stay until the end? They saw it as a great investment and enjoyed the work. The only ones that profited were those who sold it to them.

[Mallo]

Im in Phuket right now and I can tell you the pandemic didnt hit the Thais hard at all. 
Bars are same price as before, ladies even increased their prices to 3000-4000 Baht shorttime and everything is reopening right now.

Only things got a bit cheaper is hotels and food at some places, but even that rises everyday. 
 

Phuket nightlife is growing by the day, as more and more tourists come here the prices explode. The police is already bribed again, so the bars dont even close on 23:00 and GoGo Bars are open too. Banglar is mostly full, only the back bars are closed.

Anyone who wanted to come here because its „cheap“ go to Cambodia. Thailand is only for very rich people.

Edited November 21, 2021 by Mallo

[Shark]

3 minutes ago, Mallo said:

Im in Phuket right now and I can tell you the pandemic didnt hit the Thais hard at all. 
Bars are same price as before, ladies even increased their prices to 3000-4000 Baht shorttime and everything is reopening right now.

Wow seriously. This is even for me an offensive post. I'll try to reply politely... how can you say it didn't hit the Thais hard solely judging on one place where still on the Sarasin Bridge there have been more suicides.

You wanted to pay a lower price for beers while the bar was closed for 12-24 months? This is absurd.

However the price of the ladies is just how much they want to have sex with you. It just reflects on how pretty you are, non judgemental just facts. I still get the "I'll f*** you for free" not that I'm interested in that as I have an amazing wife.