PHUKET: Another step towards determining the future of Patong's beating heart, Soi Bangla, will be taken today with the first bids for purchase or rent of 48 new bars.
The substantial addition to Phuket's beer bar supply forms part of Soi Bangla's new and rather garish Tiger complex, which will have 48 bars on the ground floor, and a disco above.
Above the disco, wink wink, nudge nudge, some sleeping accommodation will also be available.
Phuketwan has already made the point that parts of Soi Bangla now have more of a touch of an alter ego Soi Blingla about them. The glitzy gentrification process, though, does seem to have a few regressive genes.
On what we've seen so far, the new Tiger may turn out to be more Soi Bonkla than Soi Blingla.
Nearby, the contrast to the old plain no trimmings and no nonsense Bangla is evident as the large and stylish pseudo-historic retail development, the Sixth Phuket, takes shape. (We hesitate to ask what happened to the other five Phukets, but no matter.)
November is the opening date for both the retail Sixth Phuket, with 42 retail outlets for rent at 40,000 baht to 150,000 baht a month, and the Tiger complex, with its 48 bars.
Interest in the bars is likely to become plainer today. August 1 is the date set for people interested in buying or renting bars to contact the management.
Not much is being given away at this stage about the venture, except that rents are likely to vary from 10,000 baht to 40,000 baht, depending on position in the complex.
The management would not be drawn on the topic but talk along Soi Bangla has it that the key money - a deposit that is sometimes but not always refundable - will be substantial, perhaps more than five million baht.
To walk along Soi Bangla these nights is to experience the conflicting pull of the old, never-say-die Soi Bonkla and the glitz of the upwardly moving Soi Blingla.
Another new upmarket resort is said to be the next major development for what is now definitely Phuket's most pricey strip.
Such is the trajectory of rents that one veteran bar owner says Bangla-Blingla-Bonkla now only ranks behind Bangkok's Siam Paragon complex for cost per square metre.
Phuket residents tend these days to shy at the prices in Bangla, but its appeal to tourists - and its position in the array of attractions that Phuket has to offer - appears undiminished, even if visitors may wander off to less expensive parts of Patong once they have been stung 500 baht for a drink at one of the ''free'' ping-pong ball shows.
The tide moves both ways. While there are still parts of the old Bangla being resurrected, some bars along the strip now rely on alcohol and food and have dropped sex from the menu.
There's also a wilder edge, likely to draw the attention of cultural enforcers, with some bars said to be offering naked hostesses behind closed doors in the back lanes.
While the most obvious change in the old strip is towards more of the new retail Soi Blingla (along with the arrival of more and more katoey ladyboys) the spirit of Soi Bonkla, it seems, will not be easily laid to rest.
The substantial addition to Phuket's beer bar supply forms part of Soi Bangla's new and rather garish Tiger complex, which will have 48 bars on the ground floor, and a disco above.
Above the disco, wink wink, nudge nudge, some sleeping accommodation will also be available.
Phuketwan has already made the point that parts of Soi Bangla now have more of a touch of an alter ego Soi Blingla about them. The glitzy gentrification process, though, does seem to have a few regressive genes.
On what we've seen so far, the new Tiger may turn out to be more Soi Bonkla than Soi Blingla.
Nearby, the contrast to the old plain no trimmings and no nonsense Bangla is evident as the large and stylish pseudo-historic retail development, the Sixth Phuket, takes shape. (We hesitate to ask what happened to the other five Phukets, but no matter.)
November is the opening date for both the retail Sixth Phuket, with 42 retail outlets for rent at 40,000 baht to 150,000 baht a month, and the Tiger complex, with its 48 bars.
Interest in the bars is likely to become plainer today. August 1 is the date set for people interested in buying or renting bars to contact the management.
Not much is being given away at this stage about the venture, except that rents are likely to vary from 10,000 baht to 40,000 baht, depending on position in the complex.
The management would not be drawn on the topic but talk along Soi Bangla has it that the key money - a deposit that is sometimes but not always refundable - will be substantial, perhaps more than five million baht.
To walk along Soi Bangla these nights is to experience the conflicting pull of the old, never-say-die Soi Bonkla and the glitz of the upwardly moving Soi Blingla.
Another new upmarket resort is said to be the next major development for what is now definitely Phuket's most pricey strip.
Such is the trajectory of rents that one veteran bar owner says Bangla-Blingla-Bonkla now only ranks behind Bangkok's Siam Paragon complex for cost per square metre.
Phuket residents tend these days to shy at the prices in Bangla, but its appeal to tourists - and its position in the array of attractions that Phuket has to offer - appears undiminished, even if visitors may wander off to less expensive parts of Patong once they have been stung 500 baht for a drink at one of the ''free'' ping-pong ball shows.
The tide moves both ways. While there are still parts of the old Bangla being resurrected, some bars along the strip now rely on alcohol and food and have dropped sex from the menu.
There's also a wilder edge, likely to draw the attention of cultural enforcers, with some bars said to be offering naked hostesses behind closed doors in the back lanes.
While the most obvious change in the old strip is towards more of the new retail Soi Blingla (along with the arrival of more and more katoey ladyboys) the spirit of Soi Bonkla, it seems, will not be easily laid to rest.
I see we are now allowed the 'pleasure' of seeing Eastern Eurpoean women gyrating in a glass booth on Bangla now, whereas before it was just happening in a side Soi. A nice bit of tea money for someone to allow this sort of thing which has unfortunately spread down from the Russian run places in Pattaya. a few more ladyboys is the least of our problems with these guys gaining influence.
Posted by Mister Ree on August 1, 2011 13:04