Just after 3am on Friday, Police Lieutenant Colonel Suwan, the Inspector-in-charge of the Pattaya Tourist Police Division led a raid on a well known gay pub located in Soi Bongkot, Central Pattaya.

Assisted by Tourist Police Officers and over 30 Tourist Police Volunteers, the Dude Pub was the target of a late night raid by the Tourist Police. 

The pub was opening well past its legal closing time and there was a suspicion that some patrons were either consuming or purchasing class 1 drugs at the location. Over 200 revelers were found inside the Pub. Licenses were checked and they were found to be in order. Urine Tests of patrons and staff members took place and a total of 30 people were found to have consumed meth-amphetamine, 12 Thai Men, 10 Thai Women, 5 Transsexuals and 3 Foreign Men.

8 people were found not to be carrying their ID Card or passport which is also an offence here in Thailand.

The manager of the venue was arrested and charged with allowing the pub to open after its permitted licensed opening hours and those who failed urine tests and those not carrying their ID cards were also detained and later transferred to Pattaya Police Station for processing.

A closure Order request has now been sent to the Banglamung District Licensing Office for their consideration.

Angels A-GoGo is the small Walking Street gogo opposite Living Dolls Showcase.

It has now closed its doors and is up for sale or rent.

It is always difficult to make a small gogo work and even harder to get people to go upstairs when they are not really sure what is on offer.

The bar also tried to mix gogo with bells and whistles shows which does nothing to attract regular customers.

There are now 75 bars with dancing girls in bikinis or less.

The Golden Time beer bar has re-opened after a fancy looking redevelopment. It looks to have taken a bit of inspiration from the recent Party Bar re-modelling. Golden Time is located opposite the Soi 8 Silver Star GoGo.

The recently demolished bar complex in front of the old Price Hotel is starting to re-open after extensive rework. It is now known as the Baron Complex.

One notable bar to re-open in the new complex is Cherry Bar. It will re-open on Friday 25th of July with a party.  And parties to follow on 27th and 29th July

A new coyote bar, Ice, has opened on Soi LK Metro at the location that was previously Gorkle Club A-GoGo.

It is very much along the lines of Club Blu with very prominent lighting and a 100% window inviting passers by to look in.

I was brought up enjoying a bit of privacy for my drinking, especially when interacting with girls. I really don't fancy providing background entertainment for passers by (nor webcam viewers on the internet for that matter). So I will leave the reviews for younger, trendier drinkers.

As always it seems that Asanha Bucha Day on Thursday 17th July is a pretty important Buddha day and the bars will be closed. (No doubt some beer bars will still be discretely serving drinks in a dark and music free setting. The large majority of gogos etc will be closed).

There is better news on the 18th (1st day of Buddhist Lent) as it seems that the bars have been given the nod to open (or maybe just decided to give it a try anyway). So it seems that gogos and the likes will generally be able to open. At least in the evening.

This sort of follows the general pattern for previous years, with the first day being generally closed but many bars opening on the 2nd day

The Party Times Bar in the Jomtien Complex was closed on my last walk by.

It was located on the northern soi which perhaps has become too gay to attract much passing trade for a girls bar.

The bar had opened autumn 2006.

Utopia is located in the new Soho Square shopping of Walking Street just down from Covent Garden. Utopia first opened the downstairs open bar with coyote dancing. They also have an upstairs bar originally opened as a nightclub with coyote dancing.

They have now decided to try for a bit of early trade by opening as a gogo from 9pm until midnight.

My first visit was a total disaster as the bar was occupied by a party of Japanese who seemed to have occupied the main section of the room. They were having a good time with the girls who were whooping it up and providing a bit of lap dancing entertainment.

As soon as the girls broke away for their turn to dance, then they were dragged back to the fray.

Any farang customers were shooed into a peripheral section of the bar where there was no entertainment beyond watching the Japanese guys have fun.

There were about half a dozen girls, none of whom would get employed in top notch bars. But as always it is never fair to judge in the early days of a bar.

Some of the girls were dancing topless, at least for a few seconds before they were pulled off stage.

There is draft beer at a reasonable 60 Baht but strangely this was not on the welcome girls boards. Probably a good idea to advertise cheap drinks as it is the Walking Street norm that no beer price on the welcome board means that beer is expensive.

I think the Japanese party was a one off as the service girl said that the bar had been very quiet until that night. Maybe a better visit next time.

There are now 76 bars with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Legs Club on Pattayaland 2 has introduced a 2 for 1 happy hour from 5:30 until 8pm.

All customer drinks are on offer including the 65 Baht draft beer. Seems very good value at 32.5 Baht for a glass.

Over on Soi 6 there are rumours that Mandarin Club is going to be refit soon. It surely is in desperate need of something to improve it.

Peppermint Palace has started doing sexy lesbian shows. They have always done the slow striptease over 3 songs style shows but this is new departure for the bar.

The Golden Time beer bar on Soi 8 is being renovated. It looks like they will become an enclosed air con bar along the lines of the Party Bar further up the soi.

Seems a good idea to me, air con is always good and the enclosed bar means that it easier to keep the street sellers out.

I climbed the stairs on the strength of reports suggesting that the Tiger Club A-GoGo had re-opened. Tiger Club was dark and I somehow got shepherded into Tiger Lounge instead.

At the last visit, the bar was a rather lifeless coyote bar with a side stage at the front of the bar and pool tables at the back.

Nothing had changed in terms of layout  but half of the dancers had given up their coyote shorts & tops in favour of sexy lingerie that reveals all.

There were half a dozen dancers on stage and several were attractive. There were another half dozen girls awaiting their turn.

Not sure how this fits in with the reports of the return of Tiger Club. Perhaps they have already merged the two bars. Hence the mixture of gogo and coyote.

It all seemed a little low key to make much impact but I will have another look to see how it is going.

There are now 75 Pattaya venues featuring girls dancing in bikinis or less.

There are reports that 3 bars out on the dark side have been done by the police. 20,000 Baht fines fro the bar and 2000 Baht for customers found smoking.

No details though but it seems that East Pattaya is under the cosh at the moment.

Liquid Lounge has opened on Soi LK Metro. It is a renaming for the previous Stereo Bar and hasn't changed hands. The coloured disks have given way to chrome but the bar seems pretty much the same as before. The bars has added a couple of places for girls to dance though.

The old Gorkle Club A-GoGo in the middle of the Soi is being converted to coyote bar. A new sign has been installed proclaiming the bar to be named ICE. The sign also suggests that there will be shows on offer.

Meanwhile on Soi Buakhao at the junction of LK Metro, the Angel Bar has reopened after building work. The girls still couldn't attract me in though.

Just around the corner on Soi Honey, Ka-Dik, a failed try as a coyote bar, is still open for a quiet drink. Not sure they have any staff beyond the bar keep though.