BEACH restaurant vendors outside Phuket's newest shorefront resort say they plan to fight an order to close the eateries.
Today the owner-vendors of the three establishments plan to meet to discuss their next move after being told last week that an unsightly toilet was the reason why authorities were ordering them to shut.
According to the owner of Lex Restaurant, which operates directly in front of the new Centara Grand Beach Resort at Karon, Vice Governor Niwit Aroonrat led a group of ''about 30'' local and island officials who ordered the closures.
Suwit Pongkratin could not say which official had actually asked for the closure and no paperwork had been produced. Rumors that the three restaurants were about to be bulldozed have been rife on Phuket for the past few days.
Khun Suwit said that the restaurant proprietors were not planning to close, and they hoped to negotiate a settlement.
He had had a restaurant business on property in the vicinity of the northern end of Karon beach for 25 years, he said. His parents had worked on the Centara site when it was a tin mine, he added.
He said he would produce a document that once ordered him to move his business because it was on public land, near where the new Centara resort was constructed.
Lex Restaurant has a concrete toilet and a thatch and bamboo kitchen, with space for about 200 diners under tented awnings that have grown in scale since the new resort opened.
The other two restaurants could not be seen when Phuketwan visited the beach in the low season, just before the ''pink palace'' began operations. Lex was much smaller in scale then.
The occupation of public beaches by restaurants and bars is an enduring issue, with some of Phuket's best-known west coast beaches now ''privatised'' to an alarming alarming degree.
Karon municipality organised the orderly move of about 12 restaurants back off the beach after the tsunami in 2004 to more hygenic premises.
But tourists are known to take great delight in actually being able to eat on Phuket's beaches. Turning beaches into restaurants, though, can have an unhappy ending.
Down the years, beaches in the resort town of Hua Hin have been built over by boardwalks and restaurants on stilts.
The outcome of the Karon Centara dispute will be watched with interest by beach restaurant proprietors and the owners of other beachfront resorts all along Phuket's west coast.
Phuket Officials Promise 'Fairness' in Beach BattleToday the owner-vendors of the three establishments plan to meet to discuss their next move after being told last week that an unsightly toilet was the reason why authorities were ordering them to shut.
According to the owner of Lex Restaurant, which operates directly in front of the new Centara Grand Beach Resort at Karon, Vice Governor Niwit Aroonrat led a group of ''about 30'' local and island officials who ordered the closures.
Suwit Pongkratin could not say which official had actually asked for the closure and no paperwork had been produced. Rumors that the three restaurants were about to be bulldozed have been rife on Phuket for the past few days.
Khun Suwit said that the restaurant proprietors were not planning to close, and they hoped to negotiate a settlement.
He had had a restaurant business on property in the vicinity of the northern end of Karon beach for 25 years, he said. His parents had worked on the Centara site when it was a tin mine, he added.
He said he would produce a document that once ordered him to move his business because it was on public land, near where the new Centara resort was constructed.
Lex Restaurant has a concrete toilet and a thatch and bamboo kitchen, with space for about 200 diners under tented awnings that have grown in scale since the new resort opened.
The other two restaurants could not be seen when Phuketwan visited the beach in the low season, just before the ''pink palace'' began operations. Lex was much smaller in scale then.
The occupation of public beaches by restaurants and bars is an enduring issue, with some of Phuket's best-known west coast beaches now ''privatised'' to an alarming alarming degree.
Karon municipality organised the orderly move of about 12 restaurants back off the beach after the tsunami in 2004 to more hygenic premises.
But tourists are known to take great delight in actually being able to eat on Phuket's beaches. Turning beaches into restaurants, though, can have an unhappy ending.
Down the years, beaches in the resort town of Hua Hin have been built over by boardwalks and restaurants on stilts.
The outcome of the Karon Centara dispute will be watched with interest by beach restaurant proprietors and the owners of other beachfront resorts all along Phuket's west coast.
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If I were the restaurant owners in front of the pink palace I wouldn't hold my breath too long, but start looking for alternative premises. You should know who you're messing with, some of the most powerful people in the realm, and when they want something they usually get it.
Posted by Ian on December 15, 2010 08:19