I was rather expecting something to have changed since the bar's re-opening. I thought it simply could not compete with Hot & Cold just up the soi. So I predicted it would either forcibly improve or else fold.

Of course I was wrong, and the bar is pretty much as it has always been.

There were a dozen girls and a couple of them were attractive. They have had a few new recruits since the last visit which has helped somewhat.

There were 3 girls dancing, strictly in bikinis.

The lack of draft beer still makes it expensive for what you get, but at least one of the new girls (ex of Spicy Too) knew me and stopped by for a chat.

The bar still cannot compete with Hot & Cold, but Nevada and Far East Rock make better afternoon bars than evening bars. So perhaps the competition for Spicy is not quite so hot as I thought.

The bar often seems to have more custom than I would have predicted from the entertainment on offer.

It is quite a large bar to just rely on basic gogo dancing. There are no shows, Jacuzzis, soft stages or anything of the like.

The girls are generally on the mature side, but this is not a dictate, just the average. There are still a few girls that are easy on the eye.

Of course the very cheap draft beer must help a bit in getting customers through the door. Also a large proportion of the dancers are naked, which helps too.

Although the bar is Thai owned, there is no undue hassle from either the girls or staff.

In fact it is quite a pleasant bar to have a quick drink in. It could be rather a good bar if they could only attract a few more young ladies. (And maybe improve the loo too).

The New Inn is to be found on the Dark Side at Soi Khao Talo (on the left hand side 2km eastwards from junction near Thepprasit.)

The New Inn re-opened a while ago with a new management. They seem to be spending a lot of Baht on publicity and "special offers".

The friendly and excellent Thai lady cook is still there, but today will be my last visit of many past. A small Tiger and orange juice, take-away sausage and mash, a pie and a soup left me with 400 Baht from a big brown and white note. That's 150 Baht (25%) more than 3 months ago. Like many expats, my income has not increased at all these last three months so how can I pay such prices?

The New Inn will surely founder (as are many other restaurants presently) for want of a policy that is appropriate to the current market situation. Good, cheap food and drink will keep people coming and smaller margins are then multiplied by more covers. The restaurant will be popular, have a good atmosphere and customers will return.

I can eat three sausages, mash potato, peas and gravy in the comfort of my own home for 95 Baht. Why would I pay 200 Baht at the New Inn or anywhere for that matter?

Bus Stop Bar & Guesthouse is short time bar located on Soi 6

I have just come back from Pattaya and what a time I had, in fact it was the best holiday I ever had.

Was made very, very, welcome at the Bus Stop bar, in fact I spent most of my time there (woo hoo) I never felt the urge to leave Soi 6 in the night time as it was full of beautiful girls.

I travelled around Pattaya but Bus Stop was the best place and prices were good at Bt500 short time and Bt1000 long time, if you wanna stay there it is only Bt650 per night

Beers were Bt80 and the Aussie owner (Dave) was a great bloke who told me the best places to go in Pattaya and he even showed me them personally (fantastic).

Hope you enjoy as much as I did.

Classroom A-GoGo is located on Pattaya Soi 13/4 (Soi Pattayaland 2).

The bar calls itself a gogo but the Thai-Anxiety definition of a gogo is that there should be dancing girls wearing bikinis or preferably less. This bar no longer qualifies as all the girls wear skirts, knickers, tops and bras. The style is Britney Spears school wear which my provide some recompense for the lack of showing.

The dancers were a little below average. There were about 20 girls in the bar of which 4 or 5 were dancing on stage.

The beer price was way above average at 100 Baht for a glass surely smaller than a bottled beer. Strangely the other drinks prices are not so expensive with most choices being in the 100-120 Baht range. There is a happy hour for afternoon drinkers though until 6pm

There were a fair number of customers in the bar so all can't be too bad. But nobody made much effort to get me to stay very long. I probably had a scowl on my face from the 100 Baht draft beer.

The reclassification means that there are now 73 bars with dancing girls wearing bikinis or less.

Mandarin Club is half gogo and half short time bar. It is located at the Beach Road end of Soi 6

Mandarin Club is suffering a bit at the moment. It is down to just 4 ladies one of whom dances on stage. There was just one decent girl amongst the quartet.

As part of the vicious circle, an unpopular bar struggles to retain many girls and this just makes the bar even more unpopular.

The bar needs to do a re-think. It has an attractive dancing area and the upstairs rooms are very good, just needs to find a way to get more out of its assets.

Silver Star 2 is the Soi 7 offering form the GoGo group of 3

Probably just one of those things, but I have rarely been entertained in this bar. I think I must have offended someone in the past and they still remember to this day.

If there is no-one to chat to then one is left with just the dancing to watch and that is a little below average. There are a fair amount of girls though, so a few will hit the mark.

There is a Jacuzzi water feature but it seemed more for watching than participating.

And if you are not really enjoying yourself the expectation of a tip for the toilet jockey is even more irritating.

Paradise A-GoGo is located towards the southern end of Soi Buakhao

I pop by after shopping at TukCom but haven't yet been persuaded to stay beyond one drink.

The bar is pleasant enough but it struggles to get sufficient momentum to retain any top notch girls. There are some pretty welcome staff though, I don't know if they can be persuaded to accompany customers.

There were 3 dancing girls all dancing topless. But this was causing sufficient concern about the authorities to keep the front door locked to gain a little time if needs be.

The bar is reasonably priced and has farang friendly music levels.

The small Rock Girls A-GoGo on Soi 15 off Walking Street has become Smile Girl's A-GoGo.

It seems a Pattaya tradition to totally re-develop a bar each time it changes hands. Perhaps it is psychologically easier to blame the layout of a bar for its ills rather than the bar management or policies.

Anyway the change over from Rock Girls to Smile Girls breaks the trend and has been implemented in a somewhat minimalist (read cheapest) way possible.

The bar is somewhat aesthetically challenged in both decor and girls. The bar is surely not going to attract any that pop their head around the door for a look see.

I stayed for a drink and sort of watched the 3 or 4 dancing girls, mostly bikini clad but one girl took offer her top.

The girls were making an effort to come and say hello but I was a little ruthless and fended them off somewhat brusquely. At least they kept trying rather than usual assumption that if you reject the first girl then you are not after company.

There were a couple of attractive girls in the bar but as soon I showed the vaguest flicker of interest, the mamasang was over like lightening to hassle to buy the girl a lady drink.

All this did was hassle me out the door.

Usually the boy bars push out the girl bars, but somebody has decided to try his luck with a girl bar in the well established gay soi of the Jomtien Plaza located nearest the beach.

There were a couple of attractive girls on scouting duty so I popped in. It was clear that a customer was a bit of a novelty for the bar. They were so eager to earn a buck and yet they were so horribly wrong that it proved a dire visit.

First of all they decided that farangs like to ply multiple girls with  drink just to splash their cash. I soon shooed away the oldie of a double team and was left with a newbie girl.

I'd only been sitting for 5 minutes and half a bottle of beer when the waiter came and asked if I wanted another. So he got shooed away too. And before I had another sip, the mamasang came over and suggested short time in the rooms upstairs. So she had to be shooed away too. Limey I had hardly caught my breath.

I stayed one more drink and bought the girl a Spy cooler for 110 Baht. The waiter then made one final error, he rotated around the TV so that I could watch the music videos. My drinking partner became transfixed with the TV and I took it as a cue to depart.

I was told that the owner was Scandinavian. The bar is small and attractively decorated but somehow it didn't seem very practical. There were just a few comfortable seats around coyote dancing stages. But I bet the stages never get used. The bar is also lacking any degree of privacy.

On the way out I spotted the cutie again, and I thought that if it had been she that had followed me in, I may then have appreciated being hassled rapidly upstairs.

The bar seems to have settled down into a rather low key affair. There are plenty of good looking dancers and they keep the stage entertainment brief and to the point with a three song set usually removing excess clothing at each song. Sexy indeed.

The bar seems to have gone awry in terms of hooking the girls up with the customers though.

I concur with a fair few Pattaya forum members that customers are generally left to drink a lonesome beer without any interest from the girls to say hello. There is a theory going around that the girls are picky and just waiting on good looking young guys. But they may have to wait a fair time in Pattaya.

There is a bar gimmick about waiving a 20 baht dollar bill around to get a girls attention, but I have yet to see this work.

In the meantime the connections of the bar will be wondering why the customers aren't showing as much interest in drinking in the bar as they would like. Nothing a bit more of bullying mamasang couldn't sort out.

The bars seems to be very much a mixed bag. The bar was pretty quiet when I stopped by, but a friendly service girl told me but it was very crowded the night before (Pattaya bars are often crowded yesterday and tomorrow but never today)

The girls were also very mixed in attire. There was one beautifully built girl dancing topless, but most of the others were wearing skirts and blouses, and in many cases, bras too. I am wondering if the large chested girl should be asked to cover up. I have a theory that the others were overdressed because they were put to shame by the beauty,

The drinks prices were quite constrained and the music was forgettable which is better than being loud.

No real reason why the bar shouldn't make for a good visit, but as none of the girls felt like being friendly to me, I didn't stay long. Nearby Soi 6 is way too inviting for this bar to be anything less than great.

The 30 day closure a couple of months ago hit the bar rather hard. Obviously the closure itself hurt but then it was followed by a quiet month whilst the bar gathered back the girls and the customers.

There are now about 15-20 girls in attendance with about 7 dancing at any one time. About half the dancers were topless and the rest bikini clad. The girls were fairly average with a couple of pretty girls. I made a quick exit when approached by a near 50 year old dancer though.

There were a fair few customers but it is not yet quite back to the levels before the closure.

Drinks prices are reasonable and music is fairly restrained. The dance rota of 7 songs is way too long if you are waiting for your girl to 'go dance'. It then becomes a cue to go and have a look at Oasis just around the corner.

It is a fairly relaxed bar, perhaps targeting local residents rather than those on a flying visit.

The No Name Bar is a short time bar associated with Welkom Inn on Soi 3.

Amongst a group of expats we have named the bar THE BLACK HOLE.

We have been using the place for a number of years as an early afternoon drinking HOLE and entertainment centre.

I even have a poolside room in the welkom complex for a short 2 week stay every 6 months and it really is a most welcoming place for the middle aged chap.

Based in north Pattaya it is well away from the main areas but soi 2 and 6 make it hard to venture away from this well appointed area.

If you've got a good formula then stick with it. And that's exactly what Peppermint continues to do. Nothing much has changed in the last couple of years and that includes maintaining a healthy amount of customers.

There is still the combination of topless main stage with occasional shows, side stage with nearly nude dancers, cage with fully nude dancers, knickerless table dancers and a topless bar.

Plenty to watch but not quite so much to do as in the naughtier bars with hands on fun. In fact putting the best looking girls in a cage seems positively mean.

Perhaps, because the watchability takes priority over the playability, this means that the bar caters more for Asians than farangs these days.

Still the girls are pretty, the drinks are reasonable, and the male service is very efficient.

A sure bet to stay popular.

Sakura Club 69 is a smallish gogo just off Walking Street on Soi 15

Things are looking good for the bar at the moment. The bar seems to have sorted out their dancing girls and there are now girls on hand to take care of the customers. Previously the whole dancing cast was on stage with hardly a break.

But the best thing is that the girls take very good care of their customers. The dress code is generally naked and this applies to both on and off stage.

The girls are certainly a bouncy lot and they love to claim a place on your lap.

The bar is certainly holding its own against the significant competition from Baby Dolls, What's Up and Misty's

The state of the decor is getting worse and worse with time. The stained concrete ceiling effect is second to none. The benches are falling apart and the foot rests are nearly rotted through.

But what the hell, it is a great bar. The girls are up for more naughty fun than nearly all the competition put together.

There are a few potential downers though, there are a fair few oldies and chubbies. All the girls can be good fun but it depends a little on personal taste on how one deals with the choice.

There are plenty of attractive girls employed by the bar, but it often seems that they are all otherwise engaged. In fact the bar must do really well for the girls as some seem to be whisked away as soon as they turn up for work.

In fact the high turnover means that if you feel a bit stuck for choice, then wait a drink or two, and a few returnees will soon appear.

The other characteristic of the bar is that the girls like to jump on your lap in teams of 2 or 3 rather than as individuals. But if you can't stand the heat, then don't diddle in the fire of Hot & Cold.

The smallish bar has a lot of character, especially for Soi 6. The owner is clearly passionate about his drinking and his military. The bar is decorated accordingly and the bar is also stocked with an enormous selection of drinks. Perhaps from the Scottish connection, I assumed that the array of bottles would be mostly whiskeys, but there is actually a wide selection of all drinks.

Most of the seating is focussed at the bar so perhaps there is not so much opportunity for canoodling. But there are a fair amount of girls on offer.

My companion for the evening was very attractive and was very good company. It also made a change that she was a cider drinker rather than the more usual Thai Whisky or orange juice

Later on the evening the bar became pretty full, with what I assumed were regulars, as everyone seemed to know everyone.

I can see myself joining them.

Club Oasis is located on central Soi Buakhao near the junction with Soi Diana.

The mamasang has worked in many Walking Street bars and has previously run a pretty tight regime of ensuring that customers are matched to girls.

Oasis though has settled down into a very hassle free gogo where you are likely to drink alone unless you make an effort to call over a girl.

I asked the mamasang about this, and she said that they have decided that is what the Soi Buakhao customers prefer.

So the bar offers minimal hassle, cheap beer and farang rock music at a reasonable volume. Sounds like your local pub back in Farangland. But of course there are topless dancing girls and short time rooms if you feel the urge. So the best of both worlds.

But perhaps a little too restrained though for my tastes.

The bar seems to have carved out a niche that is attracting a good crowd.

It is just a little bit more inviting than most gogos. It leaves the front door open so that passers by can see the table dancing within.

The open door policy probably provides a little encouragement for inquisitive tourists who maybe a little shy to venture into the unknown of a closed door bar.

The bar is more friendly than most to South Asian and Middle Eastern tourists too.

The downside for the more hardened gogo addict, is that the open door policy means that there is no nudity or naughty shows for passers by to see (or customers for that matter)

The girls are average but that still means that there are some good looking girls.

The music is oldie farang and the drinks prices are very reasonable.

Good to see a bar catering for a wider audience than most. There's plenty of room in Pattaya for a bit of variety.

The girls are notable for being some of the most attractive in Pattaya.

But maybe a little bit too good, as they tend to have developed a mind of their own, and it is not always high on their agenda to put customers first.

In fact they can be a little selective.

But if you really are a hansum man, or have a lot of cash to splash, or even maybe you a bit of a party animal, then you can surely have a good time here.

The girls dance in their own choice of clothes which makes a good change from other bars.

I've given up on this bar as I can't really work out what is going on.

The good news is that there are plenty of good looking dancing girls. The bad news is that they are nearly all set continuously dancing.

It may look good to have a bar full of dancing girls but I prefer to have a bit of company.

As far as I can tell the girls are only excused dancing when they have a lady drink in front of them. And when they order a tequila you don't get much time for your money. I walked out pronto when my lady drink only excused the girl from dancing for one song.

Far East Rock is an afternoon gogo located on Soi 13/2 near Beach Road.

The bar seems to be struggling a bit at the moment. I have been left to drink alone on my last couple of visits due to a general lack of girls.

There is also a general lack of customers too. This may be down to the girls being a bit overdressed in bikinis. Or perhaps it is down to lady boy welcome staff putting a few people off.

Still, there is nothing particularly bad about the bar. The beer is cheap and the music is farang friendly. And the girls seem friendly enough too.

As always it could be just bad luck but I think it is simply edged out by the better local competition from Nevada and Hot & Cold

Sexy Girls A-Gogo is a small gogo on Soi 8

The bar is for sale but is still running fine.

The central stage layout continues to be an improvement on the old side stage. Amazing how they squeezed the stage in. There is not even enough room for a step to rest your feet on in front of the bench seats. Instead you have to rest them on a metal footrest under the table.

The girls are average but average still means that there are a few that get plenty of barfines.

There is also a Jacuzzi show but of course there is no room for anybody to get a ringside seat.

The music is dance. If I am enjoying a lady drink chat, the long dancing roster usually gets me reaching for the check bin.

Rodeo Girls is a small gogo on Soi Pattayaland 2 which is now down to 4 gogos.

I cannot work out what how this bar is meant to work. They had just 6 girls in attendance and 5 of them were dancing. This meant that there were simply no girls remaining to circulate amongst the few customers.

How are they supposed to get a few lady drinks when they are dancing all the time?

What is the customer expected to do, get bored watching the overdressed bikini clad shufflers. Presumably one could quote a number to the mamasang and takeaway a girl, but this business model only seems to work at high end bars with very attractive girls.

To be fair, the girls were attractive though. I am sure I would have bought a few lady drinks if the opportunity arose. But it didn't, so I moved rapidly on.

I have read a few good write ups of Beavers of late saying that there surely are some naughty girls in attendance.

I have always been a bit sceptical though as I have missed out on the fun in several visits and not even seen much naughty stuff going down with other customers.

But a recent visit pleasantly confirmed some of the rumours.  I was well looked after by a very friendly and hands on girl.

Not quite an ideal bar though, as there are a few fundamental flaws. Firstly the bar is too small for any comfortable seating. Secondly the dancing stint is too long, and when your lady go dance, it is a cue to move on to the next bar. Thirdly I am simply not keen on table dancing. It gives me a crick in the neck and I find it somewhat undignified to stare up at a girl.

Update: Looking Up

Thanks to Stevie and Douglas

It has been pointed out to me that maybe I should have cast my gaze downwards. I would then have spotted the mirrored tables and perhaps also the inspiration for the name of the bar.

Popped in for an early look see and the new bar on Soi 15 surely looks good.

The outside neon is surely the most impressive in Pattaya.

There is a central stage with half a dozen girls fully covered in a white lacy affair.

There are another half dozen girls on table dancing stages arranged just in front of the comfortable bench seating. The girls were topless but strangely with a blouse at half mast. Perhaps at the ready for a quick panic.

There is an upper floor with accessed by a scary looking spiral staircase. The girls dance nude up top and are viewable from downstairs.

There were plenty of girls in attendance and an old friend looked after me well.

The drinks prices are comparable with other popular bars but the draft beer wasn't in a particularly large glass for the price.

The music is aimed at the dancing girls rather than oldie farangs. Perhaps a bit loud, but not quite the loudest.

I found a couple of teething problems in terms of the arrangement of the dancing girls. Sitting downstairs, the upstairs girls are simply too far above to be particularly worth a cricked neck for. The lighting, although effective, makes it difficult to watch the table dancers, its either too dark, or else one gets a bit dazzled. And the girls on the central stage are simply overdressed. Perhaps the trick is to sit upstairs...but I don't know if I would trust myself to get drunk upstairs, what with having to negotiate the stairs on the way down.

The bar seems to have picked up a little since the last report. Nothing has really changed about the bar but having a few more ladies means it works so much better.

The bar is primarily an afternoon bar catering to expats. The music is strictly rock focusing on the 70s. Some of it is totally undanceable for the girls.

Most, but not all, of the girls dance naked but the girl nearest the door puts her wrap back on presumably in anticipation of a police visit.

The girls tend to do a fair stint at Nevada so presumably they are well looked after by the bar. They know how to look after the customers but are not really quite so hands-on as Hot & Cold at the other end of the soi.

An easy place to stay for a couple of beers but I have rarely stayed for a long haul.

A predictable single beer visit 6 months on from my previous look see.

As usual there were a few pretty girls, but as usual no one made any efforts to make contact.

The beer was not cheap, as there is no draft, but then again, it is not expensive as there are bottles at 80 Baht.

I was struggling to think of much to say about the bar so I went somewhere else to consider my prose.

The bar needs a little je ne sais quoi. Perhaps a little Can-Can would help.

Sometimes a bar can get too successful and What's Up has gone beyond what I consider to be a good place to visit. The bar fines have gotten very high. The girls quote with high expectations too, and even then, the mamasang urges the girl to get back as quickly as possible.

However the bar does deserve the success. It has pretty girls doing naughty things whilst retaining good close rapport with the customers.

The girls on the play stages armed with the foam tubes seem to be wearing a few more clothes than they used to.

Probably one of the better bars in town for those not too concerned about the prices. But for me, it has become a bar for just an occasional visit.

This must be one of the most attractive bars in Pattaya. It is new and purpose built with a feeling of luxury.

Having passed through the enormous hallway one finds a choice of 3 drinking/smooching areas. There is the main bar, an aircon room and also the garden.

The ambiance is relaxed and the sofa seating is very comfortable.

There are about 25 girls in attendance circulating around. There are plenty of pretty drinking partners but there also a few to avoid. They seem a friendly and lively bunch.

Drinks prices are typical for Pattaya and there were free rather good sandwiches into the bargain.

There are plenty of good quality rooms on hand and a Jacuzzi somewhere too.

Rooms are 300 Baht with no further barfine. The girls expect 1000 Baht. The takeaway barfine is set at 500 Baht.

There's plenty of car parking space in front of the bar.