Phuket Nightlife in Crisis as Patong Venues Reject Police Order to Close on Time
By Chutima Sidasathian Thursday, August 14, 2014
PHUKET: Patong nightclubs and bar owners have triggered an order from on-high that all Patong nightspots must shut at 2am from now on. The order to close on time has sparked a crisis meeting of the Patong Entertainment Association for 8pm tonight.
By ignoring a request that closure for the night of HM the Queen's Birthday would be appropriate, the venues appear to have triggered unexpected serious consequences.
For years, officers at Kathu Police Station have closed Patong's nightspots only with great reluctance at the official closing time of 2am.
It has generally been considered for many reasons to be appropriate for holidaymaking tourists to ''party on'' until the early hours.
However, a request from the Superintendent of Kathu Police, Colonel Jirapat Palchanaphan, for venues to close for the Queen's birthday was ignored by some businesses.
As a result, the 2am closing rule is to be strictly enforced from now on, according to the colonel. He attributes the ruling to his superior officers.
Less than two weeks ago, Colonel Jirapat told Phuketwan that he could not act against jet-skis on Patong beach or against illegally parked tuk-tuks on Patong's streets without the assistance of local authorities.
However, it appears as though enforcing the 2am closing time is something that Patong police can manage without help.
Patong nightlife venues have been hit hard this year by a spate of closures for national and local elections.
The military's National Council for Peace and Order, which took control of Thailand on May 22, has been outspoken on the need to restore traditional moral values, but also remains keen to boost tourism.
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Comments
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Let them continue like this and all the newly built hotels will be turned into nursing homes for farangs soon. Only the visa policy needs to be adapted.
Posted by
Resident
on
August 14, 2014 13:37
2am sounds ok if you haven't had enough drink and fun by then you have a problem.it will be good to go for a run along the beach in the morning without having to stop to help the drunks out of the water before they drown.
Posted by
brian
on
August 14, 2014 13:43
This guy sounds like he's spitting his dummy, just because some bars (very few on Bangla) disobeyed his order to close on Mother's Day.
I don't have a problem with closing at 2 am, but it won't go down well with the late-night discos, or the tourists that want to patronize them.
I would have thought there were more important issues for this guy to be dealing with though.
Posted by
jimbo34
on
August 14, 2014 14:15
Nothing wrong with closing on time. It just needs to be consistently enforced. People will adjust to going out earlier quite quickly I feel.
Posted by
spud67
on
August 14, 2014 14:28
This has little to do with some bars (it was very very few, mainly out of the way) ignoring his order (no matter how he tries to spin it it was an order) and everything to do with the complaints afterwards, especially as those complaints have caught the attention of those above him. Its retaliation for causing him trouble for overstepping his authority
Posted by
Lashay
on
August 14, 2014 14:29
At the end of the day only thing I dare to predict is an increase in prices.
As if Bt 200 for a glass of watered down wine was not bad enough.
That was in Kata 1y ago. Have not been out in Patong for years but I doubt it's cheaper there.
Posted by
ThaiMike
on
August 14, 2014 14:42
stay cool and calm, through a stone in the water it causes ripples, after a time the water returns to be calm
wm
Posted by
wm
on
August 14, 2014 15:19
I work in Brasil and that is also known as a party place with lots of tourists and they manage to keep to a 2 am closing
Posted by
Michael
on
August 14, 2014 15:51
Another good move. 2am is fine. If people really need more drinking time, start earlier. It's not very pleasant for children going to school and people going to work, who have encounters with drunks and the other dregs of society at 7am in the morning.
Posted by
Billy
on
August 14, 2014 16:55
Close eatliest at 4am, so people dont loath street same time at their peak, then it will be problem. People tends to start party at 10-11pm. Let people party if they want.
If they close 2am there will be a lit of illegal clubs around the island, with drugs and s***.
What do moral people have against 4am or 2 am? For partier it is a big difference. And for keeping all calm on the street, the early people can go home early and the rest later, better in all cases.
Posted by
Peter
on
August 14, 2014 17:28
When I first went to Patong 12 years ago the bars and night clubs closed at 2am no exceptions. The tourists went out earlier around 8pm and Bangle road and all soi's off Bangla were buzzing by 9pm. There was never any problem about the bars closing. Now you don't even see staff turning up for work till 10/11 o clock, a return to the correct closing is not going to cost bar owners as people will just go out earlier and real tourists don't want to be out at 3 and 4 in the morning as they have far more better things to do the next day than nurse a hangover
Posted by
Neil A
on
August 14, 2014 18:05
@Lashay, I totally agree.To those that advocate 2 AM is fine for closing, please get in the real world. All across Europe, Night clubs close at 5 AM, same in the USA, etc etc the list is infinite. If Phuket wants to be a real Tourst destination it needs to compete.
Posted by
Terry
on
August 14, 2014 18:21
So if I'm in holiday, I would not like that someone dictates me when I have to go to sleep. Do you think that by 4pm someone feels like to go to a disco? In the holiday I might even have a little fun. Are not always so uptight, be cool.
Posted by
erich
on
August 14, 2014 18:57
'I can't deal with crime, I can't deal with other things' seems like this guy is constantly shooting himself in the foot. He seems to have his nose out of joint over the birthday closure fiasco.
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
August 14, 2014 19:16
I understand why this is happening, and tourists have the choice, if they want to party longer they will just body swerve Patong, and go somewhere else, I Know the pubs and clubs in Ibiza are open until 6am which is great if you want that.
It's all about choice... For the Tourist..
Posted by
Robert
on
August 14, 2014 20:45
unfortunately the powers that be are clueless in relation to what a top class world destination can be.
Posted by
ciaran
on
August 14, 2014 20:53
#Terry: Quote, "If Phuket wants to be a real Tourst destination it needs to compete."
Strange post, given in winter time US and Europe is shivering in sub-zero temperatures, for months. Wind-swept by blizzards, followed by dark cold nights, whereas Thailand is basking on average between 32-36C all year round. Hardly what I would call competition, would you ?
Posted by
reader
on
August 14, 2014 21:15
With closing at 4 a.m. or later, you just have more drunk idiots crashing motorbikes and killing innocent people who may have to go to work early in the morning at say 5 a.m. or heading to the airport to catch a flight. Close all bars/clubs at 2 a.m. and then the drunk idiots will only be topping themselves by driving drunk and not taking the lives of innocents with them.
Posted by
Anne O. Nymous
on
August 14, 2014 21:55
@ Erich- so you abide by the rules at home but think it's OK not to have to live by rules because you are on holiday?
What about the people who live in Phuket- can they visit next door to you at home and break the rules because they are on holiday?
Posted by
Mister Ree
on
August 14, 2014 22:52
So when will the pimps be shut down? Or is an entire industry which may well be the basis of all corruption, that specializes in exploitation of sex workers one of those a traditional Thai morals?
Posted by
The War Whores
on
August 15, 2014 01:02
Editor Comment:
We will leave Thai morals up to the Thais, TWW. Our understanding is that the once-exploited local sex workers are now paid international rates. You won't find people advocating prostitution but it's unlikely to disappear anytime soon, in Thailand or elsewhere around the world.
2 am closing is plenty late enough. In Bangkok the bars are virtually empty now at 1 am so many even close early.
Posted by
Logic
on
August 15, 2014 09:17
The operating hours are not the cause of the nightlife "crisis". Other factors have a greater impact, specifically the reduced number of tourists interested in spending their time and money in unpleasant venues. Most of the hardest hit bars have nothing to differentiate themselves. A great many of Patong's bars offer the same dirty decor, uncomfortable seating, loud blaring "music", inane bar girls (or boys)and sticker shock prices. Some entertainment venues are still doing well. They know their market and have adapted to the market. It would do all the bars and clubs some good if some were culled. If one walks down Bangla and takes a trip down the side sois, one sees the issue on full display. Same-same-same. There are a great many older couples, families and young people who like to party, but to also spend their days doing something fun rather than sleeping while they nurse a bad hangover. There are not too many places that offer a fun, relaxing ambience, but I can think of two that are doing as good as they always have in off season. They offer decent wine and an inviting ambience. The days of the cheap plastic chairs, and dirty tables, ad recycled warm beer are numbered. I welcome the broadening of options.
Posted by
Ryan
on
August 15, 2014 09:29
Haven't been Phuket "clubbing" in years but it seems to me that the closing time in BKK a couple of years ago was a mandatory 01:00. Most clubs/bars in the USA close @ 01:00-02:00. The only place I have ever seen a later closing time was in Brooklyn, NY across from the Navy Shipyard. Las Vegas and the casinos in Nevada are open for booze 24/7. Many have banned smoking but hookers still are around! Charge more than the "low season" 500 tb ladies of the evening at "Patty Beach!"
Posted by
Kdub
on
August 15, 2014 09:51
Can anyone point out the exact legal statute that says 2 am closure ?? I was always told it was 12 everywhere except designated nightlife zones, if which there are 3 in Bangkok and I have never been able to establish if it is, or where it is in Phuket. Nightlife zones were legally extended to 1 am.
This was all the laws at the time of the Purachai social order campaign. Have they changed ??
Citing strict adherence of the law, when in actual fact it isn't the law anyway, seems very odd logic.
Posted by
Livinlos
on
August 15, 2014 18:16
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Let them continue like this and all the newly built hotels will be turned into nursing homes for farangs soon. Only the visa policy needs to be adapted.
Posted by Resident on August 14, 2014 13:37