Ban Chang is located on the route towards Rayong.

The bars have been told that as Ban Chang is not a tourist area bars can only open from 5.00pm to 1.00am daily. In addition, customers can not buy drinks for bar staff.

A deposition of bar owners visited the local police chief to appeal but only got further confirmation that the shortened opening hours will be enforced.

As a key source of income for Bang Chang bars is golfers calling in for food and fun in the afternoons, after a round and before heading home, this ruling is a potential bar killer.

From Phuket Gazette

Last night's police crackdown on Phuket's Soi Bangla entertainment venues trading past 2 am was in response to an order by new Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobumrung, Kathu Police chief Col Grissak Songmoonnak has confirmed.

Col Grissak, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette today that he ordered the crackdown after Interior Minister Pol Capt Chalerm told police nationwide to get tough on nightclub operators as part of his new anti-drug campaign – or face the consequences.

Phuket Governor Niran Kalayanamit explained that he had just returned from Bangkok, where he was told about the new anti-drug policies laid down by Interior Minister Chalerm. Capt Chalerm threatened to punish police officers, district chiefs and other officials who failed to strictly enforce anti-drug measures at entertainment venues, Gov Niran said.

The strict enforcement is to ensure that all entertainment venues in areas such as Patong operate as required under their licenses and deny entry to anyone under 18 years of age, he said.

Venues operating without a license will be closed immediately and any licensed venues found breaking anti-drugs laws and admitting minors also face permanent closure under the tough new Interior Ministry policy, Gov Niran said.

Update: Sorted

From Pattaya Rag , March 15th 2008

Daytime opening has now sorted itself out and opening times are back to normal.

We at Shooters are happy to announce that Russ has joined the Shooters team! He will fill the same role in Shooters as he did so successfully for TQ2, and we are very pleased to have him on board.

Russ's first official day at work will be Monday, February 25, but he will be in the bar tomorrow night to hang with our mates, so come on over and give him your support! smile.gif

In the Bangkok Post there is an article in which the Interior Minister, Chalerm, in the new government states that he will have a meeting each weekday with the provincial governor from each province on a rotation basis.

One of his priorities will be to make sure that the provincial governors are applying the law in ensuring that ALL entertainment venues close by 2 am. Does this mean a new clamp down?

Pattaya entertainment outlet operators have complained about the collection of fees for music copyright usage, saying that bogus companies are presenting false claims.

Pattaya City worked in conjunction with MCT-Phonorights Joint Business Operations to hold a meeting on February 8 regarding the collection of fees for copyright usage.

Theerayuth Thabprasit, senior copyright officer at MCT-Phonorights Joint Business Operations, tells people at the meeting that only his company has the right to collect copyright fees.

MCT-Phonorights Joint Business Operations is the authorized company that collects about 98 percent of the fees for international music companies and internationally known recording artists. [But this licence does not cover Thai music which is licensed separately]

Ronakit said that the entertainment operators are saying many people had filed false claims with the outlets, stating that they were representatives of MCT-Phonorights. They asked for payments ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 baht each time, and were a source of concern and trouble to the operators.

Theerayuth said that all representatives appointed by MCT-Phonorights were provided with ID cards clearly showing their status, and that the company was not responsible for anyone unable to produce an official ID card.

MCT-Phonorights suggested that operators holding contracts regarding copyrights signed with other companies should cancel them, as MCT-Phonorights has almost sole monopoly for copyrights, at nearly 98% The operators agreed with this proposal, saying that it is the best way to avoid extortion.

Police Colonel Jackdoorong form the Juvenile and Women's Division of the Royal Thai Police based in Bangkok led an inspection of Bars around the South Pattaya area on Wednesday Night.

The officers visited bars on Walking Street and Soi Sunee Plaza and were looking for any bar employees under the age 18 which is an offence in Thailand.

No arrests were made and instead the Colonel spoke with bar owners and gave out information leaflets to bar workers.

Jil in Pattaya is reporting that Russ has been fired from TQ2 in Soi BJ just off Walking Street.

Russ had been instrumental in transforming TQ2 into a good gogo. Previously it was a good bar for Americans to have chat whilst ignoring the dancers.

Anyway there is a tale to tell at Jil In Pattaya

Thursday 21st is Makha Bucha Day which is a major Buddha day that has been designated as dry (from 8am on the 21st through to 8am of 22nd).

A meeting at Pattaya City Hall for election workers took place in preparation for the first of two days of voting for the Senate or Upper House Elections. On 23rd of this month those who reside in Pattaya but are registered in another province will be able to vote in this first phase of voting. Unfortunately, this will mean that bars and other late night entertainment venues will have to close from 6pm on Friday 22nd until Midnight on Saturday 23rd.

Previous experience suggest that the police ease up once the poll has closed and bars can generally open on the evening of the poll, ie on Saturday 23rd.

The bars will also close the following week for the actual election on Sunday 2nd March. The bars will close at 6pm on Saturday 1st March and potentially be closed on Sunday too although again, bans have generally fizzled out in time for Sunday evening opening.

Update: Spirited Resistance

21st February 2008

No changes to the official line, but it appears that there may be a little bit more resistance than usual to the enforced closures.

There is also talk of gogo bars opening on Friday without selling alcohol. A similar idea was floated at the last pre-election but the police soon put a stop to it. But of course these elections are not quite so important.

From Oukiva Friday, 22h-24h:

• Soi Diamond : no smoking, except Heaven Above where they had a "police alert". You know, the big flash and all the ladies quickly cover...but in the same time the staff removed all the ashes-trays ;-)
   
• Covent Garden (Soi 16) : Smoking allowed in the 4 GoGos...
   
• Sisterz : (from a 2nd-hand source)
  Ash-trays "confiscated...2nd time this week!
   
• Soi Buakhao: I hear smoking allowed.
   
• Soi 7/8: even some open-air bar are no smoking :)

From eyebee

• Funnily enough, though, both Peppermint and Sisterz were allowing smoking last night, having banned it previously. Sisterz were using empty Coke cans as their ashtrays (having had all their other ashtrays stolen!).
   
• What I heard is that smoking is only allowed if there is clear air above the smoker (i.e. no roof). So that would apply to most beer bars.

The police visited virtually every go-go on Walking Street on Tuesday night and stole all their ashtrays! (well, they did at Sisterz, anyway).

As of last night (Wed.) the only go-gos allowing smoking were those in Covent Garden (maybe the police didn't get as far as there).

All others were enforcing the no smoking edict. Interestingly a couple of bars provided smoking tables outside the bar, so you could pop out, have a fag, then go back in.

It was also reported to me that even before this police action, the weren't as many smoking bars as the recent Pattaya City News item suggested.

But off Walking Street most GoGos I have tried are still smoking but it may just be a matter of time before these are visited too.

The new Honey Girls A-GoGo opened last night.

Located just outside of the Honey Hotel on Soi Honey. The place was rocking. Girls and customers all having a good time. Some lookers in there which is unusual for an opening night.

Minor problems with A/C and staff not serving customers quick enough.

Over all-thumbs up.

There are now 82 girl gogos operating around Pattaya

The new no smoking law came into effect on Monday which bans smoking in air-conditioned entertainment venues and offices.

The new law is surrounded by confusion and many business owners here in Pattaya are unsure of how to proceed. Any business found breaking the law will be fined 20,000 Baht and  2,000 Baht fine for every smoker caught inside the venue.

However, there is an initial 3 month reprieve until the Law is expected to be enforced.

We conducted a survey of venues on Walking Street on Monday Night to find out how many venues are complying with the Law. We visited 19 establishments on Walking Street and found that 6 of them were smoke-free. However the smoke-free establishments were found to have far fewer patrons that the ones who were still permitting smoking.

The E Gothic GoGo was closed last night at least in terms of being a GoGo.

The bar is still open but is now operating as a beer bar.

It seems pretty tough to get anyone to stroll down Soi BJ any further than TQ2.

Meanwhile Fun Room A-GoGo has returned to life on Soi 15. The girls are unsurprisingly on daily pay at the moment but there is surely still an air of a lack of permanence

Immigration Police went through Soi 6 bars last night checking passports of farang owners.

In one case they mistakenly thought a farang owned the bar when in fact all the licenses are in the Thai owner's name.

Perhaps pissed-off at that turn of events, they turned to a couple of farang customers and asked for passports - and no joy there as both were carrying them.

So with major disappointment all around, the crew of 10 police or so slunk off into the sunset. Likely there'll be visits to other sois in the next few days.

Rocket opened last night upstairs on Soi Diamond where Tiger Club used to be.

Entrance is narrow staircase right before Paris a Go Go . The, what has become usual, interior for new go go's - stage for 4-6 girls, jacuzzi, comfortable seats, etc., etc., etc.

Line up was less then spectacular.

You really have to question the wisdom of someone opening a new go go on the second floor as the season winds down. Even many of the ground floor go go's can barely get more then a handful of customers these days.

Not yet worth the climb up the steps.

There are still 81 girl GoGos operating in Pattaya with Rocket making up for the closed Fun Room

Bring your own bar stool

Latest rip off for owners to come from City Hall, following the daft Music Licenses, and CCTV set ups has just been passed.

Every restaurant must pay 100 Baht per seat on the premises.
Every Bar must pay 200 Baht per seat on the premises.
Every entertainment venue (Includes Go-Gos) must pay 240 Baht per seat on the premises.

Annual payment.

No pay, no license!

It seems the impending smoking ban on aircon bars is being treated reasonably seriously so far.

Bangkok police have been distributing pamphlets describing the rules and all the newspapers have carried informational stories.

The ban will start on Monday 11th February but it seems that there will be a grace period until 31st May before fines can be levied. 20,000 Baht on the bar, 2000 Baht on the customer caught smoking.

Thinking about practicalities, the ban cannot be ignored. the police can send in stooges to light up and be hanging around outside waiting to claim their 20,000 Baht. Bar staff will simply have to forcefully stop people lighting up...just in case.

Fun Room A-GoGo on Soi 15 closed for a few days then opened for a few days and was closed again last night (Thursday 7th February)

Dropped by "Lock Girls" to get the story and the gossip was that the Japanese guy had given up after an increasing dumb set of "economies", apparently at one point trying to fine the service girls for spending too much time chatting to customers!

There are now 80 GoGo bars with girls operating in Pattaya.

It seems that that Blue Angel A-GoGo on Soi 7 near 2nd Road has moved on.

The bar now proclaims to be Sexy A-GoGo with a sign very similar to Sexy Girls A-GoGo similarly placed on Soi 8.

Confusing or what?

Two Scandinavians, Danish Kim Holm and Norwegian Gunnar Nordahl held the grand opening of their new A Go Go joint in Soi 7 on 2nd February.

The new A Go Go bar with the name Sexy is a friendly place with reasonable prices, music from the 60's and 70's and boasting some really nice wall paintings.

Yet another GoGo is set to open its doors on Walking Street.

This is to be another one upstairs in Soi Diamond and will be called Locket so I'm led to believe.

It's due to open in mid-February and will have one of Pattaya's most experienced managers attempting to draw punters up the steps.

Presumably the old Tiger Club is being pressed back into service (following in the footsteps of Roof & New Player).

Party Bar on Soi 8 is closed for renovations and we have shipped a lot of the girls down to the Insomnia Gentlemen's Club.

The bar is going to have a whole new look with only 1 central bar instead of the old 2 larger bars with the bonus of evaporative air cooling systems, plus more comfortable seating and even more ladies.

The 1st of March is opening time so its only a small closure for a very big job.

Many bars have been shut by the police last week for supposedly not having the correct licence

Soi Yamato & Soi Post Office have taken a hit with temporary bar closures including:

• Moulin Rouge
• Coopers
• Dogs Bollocks
• Monkey Bar
• Jungle Bar
• Nice 'n' Eazy
• Yates
• office Girls
• George+Dragon
• Spricey Bar
• Gothia

Other bars mentioned are Streamline on Soi 7, Performance and Voodoo on Walking Street

However most of the bars have sprung back to life somewhat early, albeit with self imposed restrictions such as closing at 10pm (presumably thinking that further police inspections would occur only after 10pm)

In about 8 weeks time, Mistys A-GoGo will relocate from Pattayaland 2 to Soi 15 opposite Angelwitch.

They are developing 3 empty shop units next door to Rock Girls A-GoGo.

Fun Room A-GoGo on Soi 15 closed for a few days but has no re-opened

Dropped by "Lock Girls" to get the story and the gossip was that the Japanese guy had given up after an increasing dumb set of "economies", apparently at one point trying to fine the service girls for spending too much time chatting to customers!

There are now 81 GoGo bars with girls operating in Pattaya.

Tornado A-GoGo on Soi 6 o pened 5th September 2007 but turned out to be a lady boy GoGo.

The bar never seemed to find its mark and was soon up for sale.

The bar has now presumably been sold as it is now closed and being refurbished. Hopefully someone will try a girl gogo.

The lady boy venues seem to have taken a bit of a knock of late as GoldFingers A-GoGo on Soi 7 also closed at the end of December 2007.

Lita's bar on Soi BJ off Walking Street has recently been put up for sale to join nearby Blue Ice on the estate agent books.

However the lady boys seem to have ousted the girls at Pook A-GoGo on Soi 6 so perhaps ex Tornado Customers may find alternative fun a little further down the soi at Pook.

Banners proclaiming a new GoGo have appeared in a small venue under the Honey Hotel in Soi Honey.

I have also heard that the Lion King Bar on Soi 6 will close in February and be transformed into a GoGo.