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New Zoning/Early Closure Thread


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To me it seems like there is a awful lot of ambiguities in the proposed regulations. The soi 7 beer garden is also serving food, as such it could be considered a restaurant, the same goes for the bed club. Also the most English/Irish-style pubs serve food. I wonder wether those ambiguities were made intentionally to leave loopholes...

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I think this has already been mentioned but you are correct christo., the new rules are very ambigous and leave a lot to the imagination of the thai police (corruption bribes and all). I still have my fingers crossed that NEP and cowboy are going to be given special privelages because of the impracticality of the zoned areas. Otherwise NEP may become Nana Eating Plaza etc...

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Maybe all of the gogos should start serving hotdogs which would make them a restaraunt. Somrhting along these lines may be a way for alot of bars to get around these rules.

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Maybe all of the gogos should start serving hotdogs which would make them a restaraunt. Somrhting along these lines may be a way for alot of bars to get around these rules.
I was thinking the same thing. Actually many of the bars already serve food. You can order food from most of the bars, and some have short menus on the tables where you can order burgers, fries, etc., while others serve popcorn at 10 Baht a bag.

 

But I see several possible problems. First, I don't recall seeing any exemption for places that serve food or restaurants in any of the articles I read about the early closings. (I did see something about noodle vendors, but I am not sure if that is applicable.) Perhaps it is there and I missed the article. If so, perhaps someone can hold up there hand and tell us where to find that article. It is reasonable to assume that restaurants would be exempt because of the absurd consequences if they are not, and I suspect that is why we are making that assumption, but I wonder if it is correct.

 

Second, even if restaurants are exempt, are they still subject to the rules about when alcohol can be sold? For example, are restaurants outside the desiginated zones only allowed to serve alcohol between 9 pm and 12 midnight. If so, the rules again lead to absurd results and you can be sure that restaurant owners outside the zones will complain vocally.

 

Third, what is a restaurant? If all you need to do is sell food, then every bar is a restaurant. If you need a kitchen on the premises that prepares food, then Gullivers is a restaurant and soon every NEP bar will become a restaurant. A bar owner can easily add rice cooker, a small grill, and whoola, he has a restaurant. It might be inconvenient, but if the alternative is operating hours restricted to 9 pm to 12 midnight, I don't think most barowners will have a hard time making a decision. If there no rules and it is simple left to the discretion of the enforcing officer, well I think we all know that will lead to.

 

There are plenty of places where is is hard to say whether it is predominately a bar or restaurant. Woodstock comes to mind. Is Woodstock only allowed to operate between 9 pm and midnight, or can it only serve alchol during that time period or does it fall outside the new regulations altogether. If I was the owner of Woodstock, I would be asking these questions.

 

There was supposedly a meeting at the Lumphini police station last evening at 8 pm. I wonder if anyone brought up the restaurant option?

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"I am not optomistic about NEP or any place in the lower Sois of Sukhumvit. And not just the bars, but the stores, hotels and every other place that carters to the tourists in that part of town. "

 

Heres another view...

 

 

I respectfully disagree along. Several people and I are putting our money where our mouths are , as we are very positive about lower Sukhumvit. My wife is involved with bringing a International restaurant directly on Sukhumvit Road between Soi 3 and Soi 5 and we are opening another Subway restaurant on the corner of Soi 7/1 on Sukhumvit Rd. Plan to be open in April and June. We'll be open 24 hours like our Subway sandwich restaurant is now on Soi 4 and 6.

 

Too many Expats live on Sukhumvit and more are coming in all the time. The relocation firms that work with the Mult-national firms are very busy. USD75 billion is being created by KhunThakin with his projects and Thai exports keep expanding even with the Bird Flu. We feel the good times are here till 2008. Controversial... yes. But thats our opinion.

 

Also, in our opinion, Sukhumvit Road is going to be one big party after Midnight and we want to be a part of it. Time will tell if we were foolish.

 

However, we do have an out, if were wrong. If Nana becomes a ghost town, then Sukhumvit will just be" up-town" In fact, no matter what happens, Sukhumvit will turn more upscale with the 5 star hotels coming in and the new furureistic design Nana Square Shopping Mall. Today they are doing a big Fashion Show on Sukhumvit and redirecting traffic.

 

Where will everybody go if its midnight closing? Will they stop coming to Thailand? Go to Singapore where prices are double? Go to Cambodia where the infrastructure is not the same and crime is much higher? I can't come up with one place that competes with Thailand on price and atmosphere. Perhaps PI but you still have the crime rate much higher and dop the girls compare?

 

One way or another, Thailand will have Sanuk. Mark my words.

 

As for midnight, the question is....is the Thai government looking for more families along with keeping the single men coming? Time will tell what their plans are. They need 12 million tourists this year to meet their goals.

 

Odds are Sukhumvit will thrive no matter what.

 

I'll get out of the way for incoming posts and the fire sure to come :-) Should be fun. But remember, its just one mans opinion and some other businesspeople I know.

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The difference between a restaurant and bar has to do with percentage of food sold versus drinks. The decor and having a bar in the restaurant also has a factor in the enforcement. Live entertainment is also important. That is what our lawyers have told us and government officials as well when asked.

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""Also, in our opinion, Sukhumvit Road is going to be one big party after Midnight and we want to be a part of it. ""

 

Only if they allow girls to freelance. Close all the bars as far as many are concerned, just let the girls hang around.

 

Hope you are well.

 

Nok the Kook

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>>>We feel the good times are here till 2008. <<<

 

 

well, isn't that the nature of a bubble economy? a couple of years having a ball, and then crashing beyond believe? dunno if you have experienced the good times pre-'97 - but, jeezas, they were wild. and then came the crash...

and i boldly foresee that the coming crash will be in some aspects way worse than the last one.

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