Pattaya Nightlife News and Reviews

Clinic A-GoGo opened on 29th December on Soi 7. It is located a few bars closer to the beach than Silver Star 2.

Also worrying reports about Windmill A-GoGo that has just gone dark. Hopefully a temporary seizure.

Windmill was doing OK a few nights back and was about half full. (But perhaps during peak season, it should have been totally full).

Actually Windmill has been a little disappointing of late. They lost a team of their prettier girls to Baby Dolls. Also on my last visit, an old time acquaintance had somehow turned into a tequila monster.

There are another half dozen GoGos on my rounds that look as if they need a dose of some strong recovery medicine from the clinic. Also a couple of bars that seem to be doing fine are having to pay unsustainably high rates to the dancers. They will also be drawing a sharp breath after the Christmas peak.

I hope its a happier new year in Pattaya bar land than the one I fear.

Alcatraz A-GoGo is located on Walking Street between Soi 14 and Soi 15.

The bar would make a great looking set for a lavish Hollywood prison musical. There are multiple level cages, balconies and cell blocks. Perfect for teams of chorus girls to high kick in unison.

As to entertaining customers, seeking out sexy fun or takeaway pleasures, then the theme doesn't work nearly so well. Perhaps the bar designers had another demographic in mind, perhaps it is intended as a cabaret for East European/Asian couples or perhaps as a swanky nightclub for the Bangkok rich.

Anyway for the moment it is operating as a GoGo/Coyote bar so that is the way that it will be reviewed.

The central stage featured 9 dancers of which 3 were attractive topless inmates and the other 6 were a mixture of fully dressed coyotes, half with light dresses maybe in a prison theme, the other half as warders.

There was one lone girl dancing on the already deserted upper levels, but being too far away, this just adds to the overall effect rather than adding any real extra entertainment.

There's loads of lighting to give the bar to overall good effect, but not enough of it is aimed at the stage. The bar is large so the stage can be a bit far way, especially at the back of the bar. So being dimly lit as well does not help much.

The hostesses are uniformed as warders. Which again looks interesting, but may not be the right psychology. Surely most customers have come to Thailand to seek out the more submissive types. A theory backed up  by the popularity of air hostess, nurse and schoolgirl themes. I'd guess not many guys have much of a fetish for dominant ladies.

But the hostesses were doing a good job of roaming the room in search of guys who may like a little company. So a few plus points there.

The drinks prices are top end at around 135 Baht for most drinks (including lady drinks), but with a small draft beer and soft drinks at 100 Baht. I guess the bar connections are hoping that the new Carlsberg draft will have some sort of premium as 'something new', but being as it is the cheapo house lager in many British pubs, then the premium concept falls somewhat flat for me.

Perhaps the prices may fit with some top end swanky idea of where the bar wants to go, but in terms of the basic but remote gogo/coyote dancing on offer at the moment, this must count as the poorest value in town. But of course there are always many in town to whom this is not an important factor. What's up for instance does very well with prices higher than Alcatraz.

It was amusing to see that the usual barfine notices on the walls are replaced here by 600 Baht 'Bail' signs. Actually the price seems more reasonable than previously reported suggesting a bit of downward pressures on prices.

At the moment the bar seems to be doing reasonably well for customers with plenty stopping by its excellent location to take a look. One has to suspect that once the novelty wears off, then the bar will have to dream up something special to justify the high end pricing. The nature of the prison themed decoration of the bar would look very bleak and barren if it scales down to half the amount of customers/dancers. (A bit like the old concrete cavern of Taboo in Covent Garden).

Anyway the bar seemed fine for a beer or two with some pretty dancers and hostesses interacting. But really there are many better bars for girl watching, high energy atmosphere or hands on fun, all with much cheaper drink options.

Atlantis is located on Soi Diamond at the bar previously known as Paris A-GoGo.

The GoGo opened just 3.5 months ago. It continued as an old style GoGo more or less the same as the old Paris. However there were a few improvements such as the addition of a draft beer. It probably needed something a bit more radical to turn things around as the customer base for the previous Paris was already in decline.

It would seem that the high energy interactive GoGos are displacing the old style GoGos where customers are passively left in peace to survey the central stage shuffling. The only bars that can make this old style work are those with top notch girls.

I think a minimal summary of the market for farang friendly gogos is that they can either mesmorise customers with top quality girls, or else they have to create a fun party atmosphere with lots of interaction. Anything else seems to be falling by the wayside.

There are now 75 girl GoGos in the Pattaya area. Not including Clinic A-GoGo on Soi 7 which is about to be added to the list.

The rumours of the closure of Far East Rock on Soi Post Office proved premature and the bar is still open for business. It doesn't stay open very late at night so that is probably the cause of closure reports.

Meanwhile the latest rumour is that Atlantis (previously Paris) A-GoGo will close on Soi Diamond just as soon as Christmas is over.

But as of today there are 76 girl GoGos hopefully packing in the customers for Christmas week.

Kiss A-GoGo on Soi LK Metro at the Blue Moon Bar opened a couple of nights ago.

First impressions: it's a table dance venue, and looks a bit like a mini Beach Club, with the same tables and upward pointing lights.

However there was not a lot on show. All the girls were wearing bras and skirts, with a few taking off their knickers.

Music was quite farang friendly (Queen, Robbie Williams, Alphaville's Big in Japan, Tina Turner etc.) and not too loud.

One problem I noted was that the girls were dancing on the tables in high heels – the tables will be scratched to hell in a few weeks, unless the owners change that policy.

It's early days yet, but the girls weren't really up to scratch (though I did see one honey in there). Hopefully things will improve with better girls and less clothing.

Draught beer was a reasonable 60 baht.

World Wide is located on Beach Road between Soi 7 and Soi 8

Sometime one simply has to take an alternative view about what makes a good bar.

The bar has an excellent location, being just one of the two GoGos directly on Beach Road.

It is also a good halfway point when doing a stroll from 2nd Road down Soi 8 and then back up Soi 7. There aircon is certainly worth stopping off for.

The bar also opens a bit earlier than the other GoGos in the area so sometimes it is the only aircon available in the whole locality.

It has a reasonably priced draft beer that undercuts the other GoGos at the Beach Road end of the Soi7/8.

But...

If you are looking for a GoGo to hook up with girls, then this is the worst in the area. The girls are not the slightest bit friendly to anyone who looks like they may know the Pattaya ropes. And they descend on a newbie like a pack of hyenas.

The opening of Kiss A-GoGo on Soi LK Metro at the Blue Moon Bar looks to be imminent.

There were girls dancing there on Tuesday night, the bar was not yet open to the public. Perhaps a private dry run, rehearsals or audition or something.

So as bars are closing in the Soi 13s area, bars are opening in the Soi Buakhao area.

When it opens, there will be 75 Pattaya area bars with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Club Relaxxx in Covent Garden have decided to encourage a bit more nudity and most of the gogo dancers on the central stage reveal all. If the management see this as a selling point, I wonder why they are so keen on so many overdressed coyote dancers.

The Jacuzzi in The Dollhouse has been replaced with a play mat stage. Still fun for those at ringside, but not so cold for the girls.

There's also reports of naked girls dancing on the top level of Alcatraz. The venue is still not making much impression on the commentators on Pattaya's forums though. The theme sounded fun, but in practice, prisons aren't actually very sexy places. And the main complaint seems to be that dancers are just too far away from the customers, both in terms of physical distance and interaction.

It seems that Far East Rock has joined the casualty list and closed. Not yet confirmed, could still be just a glitch, but financial difficulties have been mentioned over the last month, so things don't look good. The declining GoGo count on Sois 13 looks pretty unstoppable. Only a couple of years ago there were 11, now there are 4.

One of the closed GoGos, Betty Boum, has just re-opened as a bar & club. Not sure what is meant by club though, it just looks like an open shop bar, maybe there is something more upstairs.

What's Up at What's Up? The prices of course. Most drinks prices have been hiked up, and for example a coke will now cost 135 Baht compared with 115 Baht previously. Bottled beer is now 150 Baht

Across the road at Baby Dolls a little edging up too. But here somewhat more modest. The happy hour draft has raised from 45 Baht to, a still more than reasonable, 50 Baht. Baby Dolls gets into the swing of it quite early so surely one of the best value happy hours in town.

Also a modest and reasonable price increase at Sweethearts A-GoGo. The happy hour price for most drinks has increased from 50 to 55 Baht. After happy hour draft beer has increased from 55 to 59 Baht.

But better news from Club Relaxxx, recently taken over from Club Sin City in Covent Garden, where the draft beer has now reduced to 50 Baht. There have been a few good reports of late, so worth a look.

Normally I focus on walking street GoGos but based Thai-Anxiety I checked out those in LK Metro area. I Was particularly interested in Oasis based on earlier reports.

Club Oasis: Over Dressed

Dropped by about 9pm and there were a lot of punters - almost exclusively older guys - music not very inspiring and not a good ratio between girls and punters.

The vibe was not all that friendly and it was like walking into a club where you are not a local. Girls were way overdressed, not that interested in customers and a couple had a pretty poor attitude with one actually saying she was not interested in hearing some story I was telling her! Fair enough but the whole thing is a game and we all know the rules!

Expensive lady drinks and overall not a place to hang around!

Champagne A-GoGo: Fizzier

Better crowd and vibe, better ratio of girls and definitely better attitude from girls - a few stunners - one young lady with a very nice pair of enhanced boobs.

Best quality girls of these three Metro area GoGos. Drinks reasonable

Office A-GoGo: All work & no play

OK crowd, girls interested in interaction except that they are always dancing - they seem to have not much time to chat before they are up and at it again. Hard to connect with a girl.

Prices no different from Walking Street that I could detect and of course quality of girls is much lower.

Overall, disappointing compared to Walking St experiences and unless you were staying right there, not much reason to go as far as I could tell.

Holiday-makers still hoping for later bar closing times in Pattaya will have to wait until at least February while city, national and police officials draft a pilot plan that could be a model for all of Thailand's tourist-driven cities.

National Counter Corruption Commission spokesman Ampol Wongsiri announced at a Pattaya City Hall press conference Dec. 13 that Pattaya and Banglamung leaders, Pattaya's police chief and the Pattaya Entertainment Association have begun work on the model zoning plan that could eventually be used in Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and elsewhere.

The project will tackle not only the issue of operating hours, but policing of minors, drugs and guns; license applications and regulation of entertainment venues outside established entertainment zones.

Ampol said he hopes the committee can submit a draft proposal to the Cabinet by the end of January.

The Pattaya Mail will have more details in its Dec. 24 issue.

47 people were arrested by the Tourist Police who conducted a Beach Road and Second Road round-up of street beggars and others who were loitering. The police were on the lookout for anyone who was acting in an illegal or anti-social manner.

The detainees included a selection of Cambodian street beggars, transsexuals and prostitutes on Pattaya Beach.

A City Hall Official was on-hand at the Tourist Police Station to offer the detainees an on-the-spot fine. The illegal aliens were later transferred to Pattaya Police Station and the rest were released.

Club Boesche in the Covent Garden Complex on Soi 16 was closed last night, and it seems to be permanent.

Most of the girls have moved across the hall to Relaxxx (and it was rocking last night).

It wasn't that long ago that Club Boesche was the top spot in town!

In a little bit of a double dip gogo recession, Pattaya's GoGo count has dropped to 75

I Was having dinner on Soi 7 and bumped into an old Gentlemen's Club fling who said she's soon going to work for a brand new go-go on Soi 7 called The Clinic.

Where? I asked. She dragged me down to a building a few doors closer to Beach Road than Silver Star (2). White front. No window, single door and lots of banging going on inside.

Don't know who's behind it but it's allegedly going to open sometime soon . From the look of the inside, however, I'd say not TOO soon.

Sexy Girls A-GoGo is a newly extended bar located towards the 2nd Road end of Soi 8

Sexy Girls A-GoGo has got a fair bit going for it. In particular, it has a fair few decent looking girls, especially for a small bar.

There's also a Jacuzzi with the usual naked soapers, and the bar is now quite spacious. There is a reasonably priced draft beer and a good service team.

The only real downer is that the girls are set on a ludicrously long dancing spell over the course of a two level stage. I do not really know what the top level is in aid of, it is too high to provide much point to downstairs viewers.

And because there are too many dancers packed on the stage, there aren't really enough left over for hostessing duties. So the likelihood is too high of a lonely drink whilst 'waiting for wonder'.

A bit of a shame really as the girls are quite friendly in the short time they have available for hostessing.

Roxy is located next to Insomnia nightclub on Walking Street.

Roxy have ended their long running stage shows. The central stage is now limited to the usual gogo dancing.

However the bar has installed a substage behind a window along the lines of the shower shows in Sisterz & Champagne. 3 girls do a 15 minute strip show once an hour

There is also another substage with either topless dancers or coyotes.

Lek's Classroom is located in north Pattaya on Soi 2 just off 2nd Road.

The bar was operating a pretty low key sort of way with around 15 girls in the bar.

Quite a lot were dancing but not many were baring very much. I was told this was down to a recent police visit causing a bit of alarm on the showing front.

There were a couple of decent looking girls on the dancing team but they put me off a bit by introducing themselves as a double act.

A friendly service girl informed me that the business seemed to have declined of late with departing customers often speaking of preferring the Soi 6 GoGos. I think that is probably just coincidence, and any decline is more likely due to duff western economies. But I did rather concur with the comment and duly wandered off to Soi 6.

Thai Visa is reporting that the upmarket club, The Bed has closed at the Amari Nova Suites hotel. Perhaps a little off the beaten track sitting between 2nd and 3rd Roads, just north of Central Pattaya Road.

The up market bars don't seem to make much impression on farang nightlife Pattaya. Perhaps the obvious theory is that Pattaya is not being pushed upmarket quite as quickly as the mayor would like. But maybe a more likely theory is that 'upmarket' farangs also prefer to go to the naughty Walking Street bars.

First A-GoGo is at the back of a beer bar complex on central Soi 8 (opposite the well known Cherry Bar)

I stopped by a few days ago to see how First A-GoGo is faring on its return to Soi 8.

The answer was pretty much as before. The bar had attracted some good looking dancers and these were inspired by early enthusiasm to put good effort into their dancing. So a few plus points there.

The drinks prices are reasonable at happy hour at 70 Baht. After that bottled beer is 95 Baht. But with no cheap draft, then a quick look see can prove a bit pricey if the place doesn't appeal. The point of a cheap drink option is to attract people for a quick look, with not too much to lose, should it be not to their tastes.

The downside of the bar always seems to be the lack of interaction from the girls. As soon as the girls finish dancing they return to the back of the bar where they are miles away from the customers.

The mamasang was patrolling the customers asking if they were interested in the girls but this never seems as good a policy as getting the girls to be on the look out for interested customers themselves.

There's now a pool table. But when I was there that just added to the list of distractions enabling the dancers and staff to ignore the customers.

The bar is large, the stage is high and the girls are too far away. Probably the secret is to scale things down a bit, perhaps with a couple of podiums amongst the sofa seating. And to keep the off duty dancers in the same smaller area. Then smiles and other cues from interested customers could be better spotted.

The Austin Powers inspired bar on Walking Street above Champion has gone dark.

The concept of the bar was as confused as its namesake. It was part GoGo, part coyote and part late night club.

Cosy's A-GoGo opposite closed a few days earlier and it looks to be a permanent end. It also never really got going with a combination of loud music, below average girls and a very long dance rotation.

Better news from Gentleman's Club, there was just a very short glitch and the bar re-opened for business.

Performance Bar made a bit of Walking Street splash by being the first to have dancing boys on the street. The bar has now erected a sign proclaiming G-U-Y Club. So the long established Performance Bar is no more.

A very short established bar was Redlight Club promising to be a Private Club. However the plans didn't pan out, and the sign was taken down. The venue has now opened as Redlight Massage, a traditional massage shop.

There's word on the forums that either 2 or 3 mores bars on Soi LK Metro are just about to take the plunge and transform into GoGos. Early days yet.

Meanwhile Pattaya-at-Night reports that a new GoGo is set to appear on Soi 7, namely Clinic A-GoGo

For the moment there 76 Pattaya GoGos with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Alcatraz has just opened on Walking Street between Soi 14 an Soi 15.

It seems that Alcatraz A-GoGo has opened to disastrous opening comments on the Pattaya forums.

The drinks prices are clearly a sore point, with an across the board pricing of 135 Baht, including the draft beer (in small glasses). The draft beer is Carlsberg, which has novelty value in Thailand, but back in my corner of Farangland, it is just the cheap house draft. Certainly not a premium beer.

But having bought a high priced drink, or an extortionate Carlsberg, then surely one could expect to sit back and enjoy some top notch entertainment.

But I'm afraid not, the dancing girls are over dressed, and are simply not of the required standard to justify the premium pricing.

There are girls dancing upstairs, but these are too far away, and too poorly lit, to add anything to the entertainment.

Not really much on offer for Farangs.

Perhaps the bar has other ideas, and is targetting Asian/Russian tourists or something.

Iron Club is a lively GoGo located on Walking Street opposite Soi Diamond.

Over the last few months Iron Club have been supplementing their line up with Bangkok models. However from December (and running until next February), things have changed a little.

An Iron-Mama confirmed that the previous stable of models has been replaced with higher-end models. For typical Western-born Pattaya visitors, the upgrade is really a downgrade.

While the previous models danced topless, the new dancer wear pasties on their breasts. And, unlike the previous models, these ones positively do not go with customers, at any price. You can, of course, buy one a Super Model drink, but it will cost you 250 baht for a small Coke.

Following the Walking Street trend, these new high-end models are aimed at the Russian couples, Koreans in pajamas and those content to just look and not touch.

A protest of over 200 bar workers from around Pattaya took place at Pattaya City Hall on Wednesday Evening. The workers, with placards demanding action from the City to extend bar opening times met Khun Itipon, the Mayor of Pattaya and his administration.

He used the opportunity announce new opening times for bars within the main entertainment zone and for those outside. He announced that bars within the zone will now be permitted to open until 04.30 and those outside the zone will be able to open until 03.00.

There were conditions attached to the new times and the Mayor stated that unless Bar owners ran their businesses in accordance with Thai Law, the new opening times would be withdrawn immediately.

He also mentioned that plans for 24 hour opening were still being discussed and a further meeting is planed on Friday.

Mass protests with more to follow

Based on article from  pattayadailynews.com

About 4000 entertainment venue workers held a protest rally in North Pattaya on Friday blocking off the street to traffic. They were airing their grievances concerning the lack of progress from officials in easing opening time restrictions during the high season, and threatened more disruptive protests to come.

Bandit Siritonyong (Pattaya Nightlife Club Chairman) said they intended to air their grievances directly to the Prime Minister, Interior Minister, Justice Minister, Chon Buri Governor, and Pattaya Mayor as follows:

1. The government had to be more flexible with the opening hours especially during the high season. At the same time the operators would comply strictly with the rules of operation in their venues, including the control of under 20 year-olds, drugs, and the carrying of weapons.
    
2. Extending closing times to be 4.00 am on weekdays and 4.30 am on Friday and Saturday inside the entertainment zone; and 3.00 am and 3.30 am outside the zone.
    
3. Appoint a committee representing venue operators to participate in the process determining zoning and opening times.

Siritonyong stated that this protest's aim was to get a response from the officials to their complaints and a letter had now been sent directly to the Chon Buri Governor. If there was still no clear response, the protest groups would organize another rally to block Sukhumvit Road

It seems that Sunday will be a dry day with nearly all major bars closed.

No doubt there will be the usual vaguely discreet drinking at some beer bars.

Cosy's A-GoGo on Walking Street was padlocked shut on Friday night.

It has been struggling of late with next to no customers when I have looked in. So things look bleak for Cosy's.

A second GoGo was also shut. Gentlemen's Club on Soi Diamond wasn't open but there were a couple of staff milling round and the lights were on. So not quite yet added to the closed list as there may be a temporary problem. It is not promising though, the bar has been very low on ladies of late.

So on Friday night there were 76 GoGos operating in the Pattaya area

Clapped in Irons

Alcatraz is set to open today or possibly tomorrow on Walking Street between soi 14 and Soi 15.

The prison theme extends over 3 floors and brings a new meaning to the term cage dancing.

No doubt there will be jailers, sadistic wardens and lesbian inmates. Perhaps barfines will be re-named key money. A better suggestion appeared on the forums where somebody suggested that you have to pay her bail money.

Update: Opened

The bar duly opened but late on at night. The first impressions seem to be over priced and over dressed.

So Pattaya's GoGo count has risen to 78. (assuming that the Alacatraz girls will get down to bikinis or less at some point).

Clapped in Iron

The Walking Street GoGo Iron Club is hiring a team of Bangkok show models for high season from now until the end of February.

It doesn't strike me as an obvious addition to the bar. Most of the regulars are there for the lithe young things on the back stages. Perhaps Iron have been watching the evolving cabaret like show scene as per What's Up. There are an awful lot of people on Walking Street who would prefer shows over hands on Jacuzzi  girls.

Update: A Pretty Price

Bangkok models at Iron Club are nothing new. They've employed several for many months now. Like the ones at Boesche before, and the first round of models at Diamond, they will go with customers — if you're young and/or very rich — but the barfine is 5,000 baht. No idea what the girl charges. And, when they're dancing, they're strictly topless only.

Hot

The Walking Street GoGo Iron Club is hiring a team of Bangkok models for high season from now until the end of February.

It doesn't strike me as an obvious addition to the bar. Most of the regulars are there for the lithe young things on the back stages. Perhaps Iron have been watching the evolving cabaret like show scene as per What's Up. There are an awful lot of people on Walking Street who would prefer shows over hands on Jacuzzi  girls.

Cold

It has been reported on the forums that the new bar taking shape on the corner of Walking Street and Soi 15 is a new location for the V2O Ice Bar.

The site will be an awful lot more visible to the target trade than the upstairs location at the back of the beer bar alley of Soi Happy. So if you're home sick for the freezing temperatures of Europe and fancy an ice cold vodka, then you'll at least see where you can go.