Pattaya Nightlife News and Reviews

The Avenue Mall on 2nd Road opposite Soi 13 has proclaimed the construction of  the Fabulous Entertainment Complex.

Unfortunately the plans do not include anything along the lines of GoGo bars and beer bars.

Instead there are two new elements to the Fabulous Entertainment. Firstly a new swish looking awning style roof is being built over the courtyard. This will then be used as an open air but covered concert area. No doubt for the traditional live band style open air bar.

Secondly the floor above where the phone shops are is to become a large open area for pubs, ie bars with no girls. Presumably they will be targeting Russian couples, I don't suppose the idea will have much appeal to many westerners in Pattaya.

Destiny is currently a coyote bar on Soi LK Metro.

The bar is reported to be about to undergo a change of direction. There is a re-launch party on 6th July. The bar will introduce GoGo dancing to supplement the existing coyote dancing.

Presumably this means that some of the existing bikini girls will dance without feeling it necessary to wear a solid bra under their bikini tops.

Queen Club is a new gogo from the makers of the popular Iron Club on Walking Street. It opened on 26th May 2012.

I stopped by at about 10pm on a weekday evening.

The bar is immediately impressive as a large, stylish bar, designed as per several of the newer Walking Street GoGos. It is as large as a GoGo can be with a fashionable long and narrow central stage.

There is bench seating down the sides. There's also a small stage with over dressed girls and a Jacuzzi with under dressed girls.

The central stage was crammed quite full with dancers. There were two basic teams, one in bikinis (not a single girl dancing topless) and these were switching with a team of over dressed coyotes.

There are also shows which seem to have impressed with pole acrobatics for one show and the girls getting naked in another show.

There were plenty of girls being interactive. I was approached by a knowledgeable girl who I first met years ago in Ark A-Gogo (before it got flooded out). We had a good chat but she was a bit hardened in the lady drink demands department.

Actually this was maybe as you would expect from a Walking Street GoGo like Iron being cloned in LK Metro.

The drinks prices are well set for the bar to muscle in on the existing LK Metro trade. The quality of the shows and generally attractive girls will also shake up the local competition.

On the other hand it was all a bit let down by the excess of clothing and perhaps a feeling that it will attract slightly harder and pricier girls.

Destiny is a coyote bar on Soi LK Metro.

I stopped by at prime time on a weekday evening.

The first thing I noticed was the rather confusing drinks price set up on the welcome boards. The bar seems to lack the simplicity of a cheap draft beer price. Not that the bottled beer prices are overly pricey. But somehow if that cheap beer welcome board is missing then it signals that drinks prices are going to be high. There is a happy hour where beer prices were reduced and house spirits are 2 for 1.

Inside there were 4 girls dancing at time wearing bikinis. But that is not quite the full picture, they were wearing bikinis over the top of solid bras. It looked ridiculous. Presumably there was some sort of compromise where the bar wanted bikinis and the girls didn't.

However one improvement over my last visit was that the girls were being very pro-active in seeking out a bit of company and no doubt, some lady drinks. It made the bar feel quite GoGo like and quite lively.

Now if only they could persuade the dancers to dispense with their bras.

Pattaya-at-Night is reporting that there is a new GoGo taking shape on Soi Buakhao. It is said to have a clinic theme.

It is being built in the Blue Rantree Complex which is a new beer bar complex perhaps half way between the Soi LK Metro area and South Pattaya Road.

There are two new  beer bar complexes in that area but they don't seem to have drawn many people south from Soi LK Metro yet. Perhaps a GoGo will help.

A previous attempt on the area with an earlier Paradise A-GoGo didn't quite stay the distance. GoGos need to be in a group so that customers can try somewhere else, should there be nothing that catches the eye.

The bar has a banner proclaiming the name Rehab but this doesn't actually mention GoGo. Instead it just says that it will be called Rehab Bar and Lounge.

The Lounge is located on The Square on Pratamnak. The Square is a few metres away from Soi 4 and has a large Harley shop as an obvious landmark.

I stopped by The Square on Pratamnak to check out the state of the Eye Candy coyote bar. However the dodos had replaced the unfriendly girls there, so I thought I would take a peek at the Lounge Bar just a couple of doors away.

Its a smart looking bar and it seemed quite popular with some smart looking people. First impressions were of an expensive hotel bar or perhaps a golf club members bar. I ordered my drink (which was not expensive) and had a closer look.

In fact it was quite a social place where customers come for a chat. Many seemed to know each other so were presumably locals. The customers included a few farang ladies hence adding to the social feel of the venue.

There is a lounge seating area and a pool room. Then there is a VIP lounge that seems modelled on a Victorian London Gentlemen's club where Times reading gents chat about cricket whilst butlers ply them with cigars and port.

Although the bar had quite a social feel, there are still a few bar girls dotted around for the gents in need of a bit of company.

Although a little slow to warm to the place, I noted that guy running the show was doing a great job in ensuring that things were running smoothly. A few friendly words here, and a bit of shepherding of the girls to ensure they were taking care of customers.

By going home time I was convinced and had become a regular.

Happiness A-GoGo is located at the centre of Soi 7. The venue was previously Tiger and before that Tattoo.

The bar has a rectangular stage with 6 poles and normally occupied by 6-8 coyote dancers. It also has a small cage/shower show area and usually empty. Customer seating is along the walls and on stools at tables, and stools around the stage.

During the hourly shows which lasted for about 15-20 minutes, dancers were topless and there were also lesbian nudes. The cage also provided a very enthusiastic lesbian show which even had all the staff watching.

As for the promised 50 girls, the bar has maybe 20 dancers. The rest were service staff and freelancers?

Bottled beer was 110 Baht. No draft was available.

The opening was very rushed. It was too busy and very disorganized with no signage inside and TV's not working.

And as a bit of a landmark for Pattaya it is the 80th bar with at least some girls dancing in bikinis or less.

On the 13th June Secrets Bar on Soi 14 fell victim to a raid by undercover police. Larry, known to many through the Secrets internet Forum was arrested.

For some reason the police were from the Crime Suppression unit of Bangkok.

Undercover police were told by an alleged prostitute that the female staff received 2,000 baht and 500 baht was the fee for a room in the adjoining hotel.

Eight policemen pretended to be tourists and caught two women in the act of offering sex. The two suspects were taken to Pattaya Police station for questioning.

Hopefully all got sorted later.

Happiness A-GoGo is taking shape at the centre of Soi 7. It will occupy the venue that was an indoor bar and coyote bar going by the names Tattoo and Tiger.

It is due to open on the 19th June although the workmen suggest later.

Interestingly the bar is announcing an opening with 50+ girls. This is probably well too hopeful for a new bar, but perhaps it indicates that the bar is related to an existing bar so that it can borrow the girls for the opening.

Angelwitch is a show bar on Soi 15.

I stopped by at around midnight on a weekday.

As I entered a show was in progress. It was a nicely put together choreographed show which was entertaining enough. It had a little bit of striptease feel about it though, with several acts featuring just fleeting nudity at the last minute.

After the show, the dancers slid down the poles for a GoGo spot. It was good to see that topless was more or less mandatory. Actually a few of the dancers that were mingling with customers after dancing maintained their topless attire. The stage was packed with girls and it made for a good intermission spectacle.

I have heard a lot about hassle from the service staff to drink quickly, but none of this occurred during my visit. The service girls were properly attentive but were perfectly relaxed and friendly.

The bar was about a third full and emptied out at the end of show sets but then gradually filled up in anticipation of the next set.

A perfectly pleasant visit and an excellent place to go when in the company of someone who doesn't need to know about the extremes of Pattaya nightlife. 

Each year Abraxas rates Walking Street GoGos primarily based on the bars with the most attractive girls.

He then organises a poll on Pattaya Addicts in which the forum members vote for their selections.

The current standing on this forum members poll is:

1 - Baccara 74 votes
2 - Airport 46 votes
3 - Baby Dolls 37 votes
4 - What's Up 34 votes
5 - Happy 28 votes
6/7 - Iron / Heaven Above 26 votes
8 - Windmill 24 votes
9 - Peppermint 23 votes
10/11 - Sapphire / Fahrenheit 22 votes

Happiness A-GoGo is taking shape at the centre of Soi 7. It will occupy the venue that was an indoor bar and coyote bar going by the names Tattoo and Tiger. It is due to open on the 19th June.

A new GoGo on Soi LK Metro is imminent. It looks pretty smart and is just a couple of doors north of MASH A-GoGo.

And in the longer term a new, the Fabulous Entertainment Complex is under construction at the courtyard of The Avenue Shopping Center. The venue is for beer bars and GoGos. It is located on 2nd Road opposite Soi 13.

Illusion Club Pattaya was a bells and whistles show bar with entrances on Soi 14 and Soi 15.

It has been closed and empty for a long time, but now the builders are in and the venue has been gutted.

The rumours are that the bar will re-open as a disco or nightclub.

The GoGo on Soi 15 that was previously Eazy Room A-GoGo, and before that Fun Room A-GoGo, has given up the GoGo game and has now reverted to a beer bar.

The venue was too small to be a GoGo and the beer bar option may be better.

The bar is hosting an opening party on Saturday 9th June

I visited Queen Club's Grand Opening on June 2 at 9:30 pm for about 2 hours.

As you enter the club:

• it has one long stage with 6 dancing poles and was occupied by 2-3 topless ladies followed by 4-6 coyote bikini clad dancers
   
• at the front left side of the club, there is a table dancing area with 1-2 coyote dancers (occasionally topless)
   
• at the back left is a Jacuzzi occupied by 1-3 naked girls, offering hands-on audience participation

Shows:

• costumed ladies descend from the second floor down a pole one at a time, usually ending up topless & lesbian.
   
• gymnastics shows featuring 1 or 2 ladies doing horizontal pole dancing
   
• lesbian shows using rings above the Jacuzzi

Prices:

• bottled beer from 100 Baht
   
• all ladies drinks 125 Baht

The Queen Club has the same owners as the Iron Club on Walking Street and offers great entertainment value.

It has set a new standard for agogo bars around Soi LK Metro as well as many on Walking Street.

See Google map of LK Metro bars

Update: Draft

7th June 2012. Thanks to Ishi

Queen Club has now introduced a draft beer priced at 60 baht all night. The GoGo will surely provide some welcome competition for other GoGos on the soi, particularly those that are more coyote than GoGo.

Club Relaxxx is located on the ground floor of the Covent Garden Complex on Soi 16, just off Walking Street.

The bar has just re-opened and Ishi looked in.

There were 7 dancers in the bar but 10 more are expected to join the bar on 5 June.

All the dancers were topless and bottomless and thankfully not a coyote in sight. Some were attractive.

The dancers were a friendly bunch too.

There is a Happy hour from 8:30pm - 10:30pm and there is a draught beer at 59B all night. Bar fines are 600B.

The Office is located at the bend of Soi LK Metro.

I stopped by around 9pm. It was not an impressive visit.

There were only coyote dancers and they were well covered up with shorts and solid bras and so on. There were just three girls dancing at a time with a rotation of 1 per song.

The dancers were in actually quite attractive though.

There wasn't much in the way of interaction of dancers with customers either.

And as is often the case when a bar employs coyotes, the service girls were the best bet for company. My friendly waitress kindly pointed out the there were a couple of more revealing girls just about to start a Jacuzzi show and that maybe the coyotes get a bit more friendly as the evening wears on.

For all the hype about Soi LK Metro as the next Walking Street, the soi seems to have a general problem with a high proportion of over-dressed and under-friendly dancers. My advice to flesh seekers is to stick to Kiss, Paradise and Submarine.

I think I did the Kings Table on Soi 13 a disservice last time I was here by saying it was more a restaurant than a bar. This is not true, Its a very nice, busy bar.

The 2 German owners are usually about and are friendly and helpful, the girls (not barfineable) are in red uniforms and look very smart.

The food in the restaurant is good and you can eat at the bar if you wish.

They have a good barbeque on Saturday evenings.

There is a new GoGo on the way on Soi 7. It will appear at the venue near the middle of the soi that was previously a coyote club called Tattoo.

Somewhat less hopefully there is another venue on the way at the Bali Hai Complex at teh south end of Walking Street.

The complex has previously been home to expensive clubs targetting Russians. It is unlikely to appear on the radar of westerners.

Club Relaxxx is the ground floor bar below X-Zone in Covent Garden.

The bar re-opened towards the end of May. Mamasang Mikki is in attendance presumably bringing along her entourage of dancers. Not yet sure what format of dancing is on show.

So there are now 79 bars in Pattaya with dancing girls in bikinis or less.

Queen Club has just opened on Soi LK Metro.

I visited Queen Club on May 27 at 10:30 pm for about 1 hour.

Queen Club Agogo is directly opposite Office A-GoGo and officially opens June 2.

It has a long stage with two tall poles and four of standard height. The stage normally has 5 - 6 coyote dancers.

There was a gymnastic show (11pm) featuring two different acrobatic ladies, dressed in bikinis, doing what I call horizontal pole dancing. The second lady ended up topless. Quite impressive and probably from the Iron Club.

Chang bottled beer was 105B.

I'll update on or after June 2.

The topless show just about qualifies Queen Club as the 78th GoGo in Pattaya

Louis was a very popular nightlife personality. He was the long time manager of Paris A-GoGo which closed a couple of years ago in Soi Diamond.

He has died in a care home back in his native France.

Adieu Louis.

Queen Club opened on 26th May 2012. It is located opposite Lolita's on Soi LK Metro.

The new bar is from the team that brought you Iron Club on Walking Street.

On the opening night there were nearly 20 dancers in the bar, and  all were coyotes.

I heard that there is Jacuzzi show which starts after midnight.

No draught beer, bottled beer is from 100B.

Las Vegas GoGo is located on Soi 13/1 (Soi Post Office) a few metres from 2nd Road

Following a disappointing visit to Far East Rock, I got a much better reception in Las Vegas on Soi 13/1. 

I was immediately pounced on by a very hands on girl albeit with many suggestions to go upstairs. Even the service girl had a quick grope whilst she took my order.

2 girls on stage at once in varying forms of knickerless undress including one with no knickers but kept her bra on??? There were about 7 girls on duty. Lady drinks B125. 1 girl on the door.

Far East Rock is located on Soi 13/2 (Soi Post Office) a few metres from Beach Road

Went in Far East Rock on Soi 13/2 this afternoon and it was a disappointment since my last visit, a lot can happen around here in 2 years.

4 girls on duty, I think.  2 of the girls were topless. 2 girls dancing and when one came off stage, she disappeared into back when next girl started. Carried on like this for the 25mins. I was in there. The dancers had not the slightest interest in me or the one other customer in there.

Draught beer B50. Don't know how much lady drinks were as I never had the chance to buy one.

There was 1 girl on door duty.

The Tee Ruk Bar on Soi Buakhao is now the Easy Corner Bar (not to be confused with Easy R Con Bar over the road). The bar is on the dogs leg of Soi Buakhao towards the Pattaya Klang end.

Easy Corner have knocked out the internal walls and moved the bar counter to the other wall. English breakfast is 120 Baht. Pad Thai gai/moo is 75 Baht.

There's a reasonable toilet.

Beer prices are reasonable too:  

• Chang: 40 Baht
• Leo: 45 Baht
• Singha, Heineken, San Miguel and Tiger: 55 Baht

Gentlemen's Club has recently re-opened at the same location at the centre of Soi Diamond.

The bar seems to have picked up from where previous incarnations left off

The good news for the bar is that the stage was packed with 8 or so dancers well above average in terms of good looks. The girls were split into two teams and would swap en masses every few songs.

Unfortunately they were nearly all well overdressed and this is very much a coyote bar. As always I see coyotes as a very negative signal. It is of course not an absolute negative, it just that coyotes are more likely to be no-goers, picky or just straight expensive.

And as normal for a coyote bar. the girls didn't seem to be particularly keen on interaction with the customers.

The bar has a happy hour of reasonably priced drinks, and has slightly high end prices for prime time.

The bars selling point will be the very attractive girls. Perhaps picking up a bit of a market from customers on their way to Heaven Above opposite. But possibly the lack of nudity and/or interaction will make it had to convince customers to stay beyond the first drink.

The Armageddon Bar on Soi LK Metro is having a facelift.

It's still trading using the front part of the bar but the back is closed off and having new toilets fitted and then the wall between comes down.

Should be finished in about another week.

There are still plenty of scrap metal sculptures around the place but they have moved Jonny Depp out of the way of the dust and he will be back when the building work is finished.

They got rid of the croc because it grew too big.

New Star is on Soi Diamond a few paces from Walking Street.

As always I have mixed success at the bar but it was quite a hit on my last visit.

Perhaps the inconsistency is down top the wide range of girls working there. They range from the young and very attractive to girls best described as stalwarts. And they seem to have very different views on what they want or expect from the bar. Some are picky, some are hasslesome, and some are good company.

But on the whole the bar is run in a way that enables a good time, even if it doesn't quite guarantee it.

The girls don't spend very long dancing and there are few on stage at anyone time. For a hands on style of bar this is very much the way to go.

The drinks are cheap, so there is nothing is lost if it doesn't pan out on a particular visit. Just try again next time.

Hot & Cold is located on Soi 13/2 (Soi Post Office) at the 2nd Road end

I stopped by at a prime time on a Friday night and the bar was a bit of a disaster zone.. There were just 4 girls on duty and 2 of them have long past qualification for the usual definition of the word 'girls'.

Actually the warning signal were flashing even before entering. The bar no longer seems to have any welcome staff, and its just guess work as to whether to venture upstairs. A simple 'Open' sign would suffice but maybe the bar no longer has the budget for such extravagant expense.

Once inside there were 2 girls that were decently attractive. They were trying hard, but they were spread too thinly to administer the usual hands on Hot & Cold treatment to the 3 customers in the bar.

It all looks a bit grim, especially as I was one of the bars biggest fans.

Toys is located on Soi 15 next door to Baby Dolls

The venue has traditionally been a very tough location. Soi 15 has some very strong competition. There's Beach Club for decent prices, and top notch girls, there's What's Up and Angelwitch as the most popular show bars in town and there' s Baby Dolls as one of best hand's on bars. Misty's and Sapphire have plenty of fans too.

Then up pops Toyz. It is not a show bar nor a hands on bar. It is a very traditional GoGo, mostly about passively watching pretty girls (which the bar has a few) and not really much in the way of interaction. Somehow it all seems a little Passé and not particularly interesting.

Of course if you hit it off with a girl its as good as anywhere else in town, but in terms of entertainment, it is proving to be a bit of a one beer and move on sort of bar. And indeed on my last couple of visits the bar seems to have adopted an atmosphere of gentle decline.

I think the bar needs to offer something a little less traditional and a little more 'extreme'.

Carousel A-GoGo is located on the quieter side of Soi Diamond.

It has been dark for a couple days, but staff were spotted inside last night.

There's no word whether this is a short term hitch or something more long term.

Update:

And indeed the 'For Sale' sign has gone up, the bar is closed, and Pattaya's GoGo count drops to 77.

Soi 6 was closed by police this evening. Every bar was shut down and all the girls/lady boys made to undergo piss testing and their ID checked for age.

This seems to be a yearly event these days.

Update: Mass Arrests

8th May 2012. See article from pattayaone.net

Police checked the licenses of each venue and the ID of the girls to ensure that no minors were working in the bars. No irregularities were found and the police turned their attentions to drug tests. Over 100 women and transsexuals were urine tested with 60 of them failing the test which led to their arrest.

The 50 women and 10 transsexuals were later transferred to Pattaya Police Station and charged with class 1 drug consumption offences. The majority of the arrestees claimed they failed the tests as they were taking prescribed medication.

The bars have re-opened for business.

Update: Follow Up

9th May 2012. See  article from  pattayadailynews.com

This press report seems to give a more believable figure of 60 positive tests out of 400 rather than the 100 reported earlier.

Also in light of concerns about slimming tables inducing positive tests, those tested positive will be given follow up tests before being charged with offences.

Sugar Sugar is located on the corner of Soi Buakhao and Soi LK metro

I had heard that Sugar Sugar has introduced a little nudity, so I stopped by at the start of an evening crawl around the Soi LK Metro area.

I watched two shifts of dancing out of three (I think). Each shift included one very attractive girl and a couple more that would turn a fair few heads. There were 5 dancers on stage at a time.

The girls were all coyote except for one who was topless. It seems to challenge the Thai-Anxiety definition of a gogo as a bar where girls dance in bikinis or less. This is mostly a coyote bar but it has a token topless dancer. Still its enough to qualify as a GoGo for the moment, but a rethink of the definition is in order.

Apart from the topless dancer, the rest of the bar was otherwise traditional coyote. The dancers were keeping themselves to themselves in one corner. However the dancers did get motivated to mix with customers when a couple of younger guys came in.

Actually the bar was quite friendly, because although the dancers were standoffish, there were plenty of service girls or hostesses interacting with customers.

It was quite early in the evening and most customers seemed to be staying for just one drink. Maybe a bit of a warm up bar to start off an evening in the gogos.

There are now 78 bars in the Pattaya area with girls dancing in bikinis or less

Silver Star is located on Soi 8 towards the Beach Road end

The bar has once again 'closed for renovation'. Presumably it is now set for a seasonal opening pattern, and is only open during high season from December through April.

The girls have been redeployed to Silver Star 2 a few metres away on Soi 7.

There are now 77 gogos with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Club Relaxxx has gone dark on the ground floor of Covent Garden.

It had re-opened a few months ago, initially as a coyote bar, but it didn't make much impact.

There's now a bar for sale sign on the door.

There are now 78 bars with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Roxy on Walking Street has rebuilt its entrance. It has done away with the tunnel and replaced it with an open space.

Interestingly this is done in conjunction with the old Hootiy's bar right next door. And it looks like something new is afoot there too.

Update: Roxy 2

In fact the old Hooty's is set to become Roxy 2 .

It will be a coyote bar and should be open in about a month from now.

X-Zone is upstairs in the Covent Garden Complex on Soi 16 just off Walking Street

The bar has long been noted for trumping Pattaya's 'hands on' bars by being 'hands in'. Their very naughty show table is certainly something that draws both custom and comment. But actually the rest of the bar was nothing to write home about.

Now moves are afoot to make the bar add up to more than just the one table. On a weekday visit at about 10:30pm the bar was notably more busy than on previous visits. And it was noticeable that customers throughout the bar were enjoying themselves, many with friendly girls sitting on their laps.

I also noticed that Phil, previously at Windmill, was on hand to coordinate the welcome revival. The ethos at Windmill is that the girls are very proactive in the intensive customer care department. It's a policy that is pretty much a sure fire hit with customers, but it takes a fair bit of managerial effort and the right set of girls to make it work.

And it seems to be working at X-Zone. If anything the bar now needs to find a few more girls as so many were busy hostessing when they are not dancing. I was told that this was down to a post Songkran dip in the number of girls and that generally the bar has a few more hostesses on hand.

One of the recent improvements has been to reduce that dance roster down to a fixed 20 minutes. Always a wise move for a bar concentrating on hostessing. Only the 'watching bars' can get away with long dance rosters. Generally a customer with a girl on his lap wants her back there as soon as possible.

Another change since my last visit was that there were quite a few couples, presumably East European. They seemed to be  enjoying the lively atmosphere. I guess they were probably busy anticipating some good tales to tell their mates back home about the naughty show table.

Anyway things are looking good at X-Zone.

New York New York is located on Soi Marine Plaza at the venue that was once Coyotee's A-GoGo.

It is part coyote bar, part show bar, part night club surely targeted at tourists rather than expats. It is reported to be the same owners as Moon Club.

Thanks to Ishi:

I have visited twice since Songkran. I saw about 20 dancers in the bar each night. 5 dancers on the main stage. There are 2 big wine glasses (which are half filled with water) right and left of the main stage. Each glass has 1 dancer. All dancers are coyotes.

They have 2 shows which begin from midnight. One is topless (some use pasties) with 5 Thai ladies, the other is underwear/bikinis by 3 East European ladies. 1 or 2 European dancers dance off the stage (to collect tips).

There is draught beer at 65B, soft drinks are 100B, bottled beer is120B and lady drinks are 160B. Bar Fines are 1500-1800B (1000B after midnight)

Wait staff t-shirts say New York New York A Go Go. But it's difficult to say that this really qualified as a GoGo.

The shows just about squeeze the bar into the GoGo definition, so there are now 79 bars in the Pattaya area with girls dancing in bikinis or less.

Gentlemen's Club is located at the centre of Soi Diamond.

I visited after Songkran and saw 7 or 8 dancers in the bar. All dancers on stage were coyotes. But they also have a short show, with just one lady getting naked.

Draught beer 95B, soft drinks 95B, bottled beer 95B-135B, Lady drinks 130B (but with lady shots  100B) Bar Fine 600B (show girl 800B)

The sign says Gentlemen's Club A Go Go. But it's difficult to say that this really qualified as a GoGo.

However just squeezing into the list with it a naked showgirl, this bumps up the GoGo count to a healthy 78.

Spanky's is located half way along Soi Diamond

I visited at prime time just before Songkran and was happy to find a big improvement over my earlier visit.

Firstly, the bar has now laid on a cheap draft beer at 60 Baht which is served in a large measure.

Secondly, there were a good team of dancers on display. There were 8 dancers on stage at a time changing en-masse every few songs. There were just 2 teams though, so about 16 dancers on duty at the time. The girls were well above average, and were wearing a below average number of clothes.

And thirdly, the girls were playing the audience rather than focusing their gaze on convenient mirrors. And if they caught your glance then a big smile would warmly come your way. An excellent idea, and almost unique in Pattaya! The stage was well stocked with foam whips, and these would occasionally come into play for a bit of playful stage entertainment.

So some excellent improvements, but there were a couple of flaws too. Getting the girls to warmly smile at customers rather takes away the smile as a useful tool to signal interest in a particular girl, and for her to come over after the dance.

In fact there weren't really enough girls in the bar to make for a very successful effort on the hostessing front. I watched nearly all customers on my side of the bar depart after a single drink, presumably as there was little chance of company due to the girls being baggsied by several Asian customers on the other side of the bar.

But I guess that the general warmth of the bar will secure the services of a few more dancers and these temporary issues will be resolved.

So A for effort and B for achievement.

New York New York was set to open on 2nd April at the Soi Marine Plaza venue that was previously Coyotee's A-GoGo. It is said to be a coyote bar and.

However it did not quite make the opening day target and looks in need of 2 or 3 days more work.

Update:

The bar duly opened and the only thing I have heard so far is that it has agency dancers.

Update from Pattaya Talk

As I'm not venturing out until after Songkran here's some info from the forums.

New York New York is connected with Moon Club and is charging similarly high prices. It is said to be half coyote bar, half night club.

Barfines are 2000 before midnight and 1000 after. Lady drinks are 160 Baht but bottled beers are a more reasonable 120 Baht.

Pattaya at Night is reporting that the next new bar to open in Soi LK Metro will be named Queen's Club A-GoGo. It is located opposite Lolita's.

I'm not sure what type of bar it will be, but the name does somewhat suggest ladyboys.

Update:

Queen's Club A-GoGo is from the team that created Iron Club on Walking Street. Is it a coincidence that  Iron Club is also a name with gay allusions?

But that aside, there have been a few changes since the last update.

Lovejoys has given way to Wet Dream. It was previously an open bar but now the front wall has been restored.

Kiss Kool has had the same idea and have just restored their front wall. I'm not sure if this will change the way the bar operates or not, but it will have to wait until the end of Songkran before I give it a look. The bar is now under new management.

Ruby Club has re-opened more or less the same as before, except that this inside bar is now signed as something naughty and enticing. Again something to try once the water madness has dried up.

Sky Bar has been dark for a while and  is sporting a for rent or sale sign.

One of Pattaya's long running soapy massage parlours in north Pattaya has closed. Sabai Land has closed on the corner of 2nd Road and Soi 3. Two nearby sister parlours, Sabai Rooms and Sabai Dee will no doubt pick up the slack.

Soapy massage parlours don't quite seem to make the same impact in Pattaya as they do in Bangkok. Pattaya reviewers generally report that is something to try once but repeated visits soon get to be a bit mechanistic.

Update:

Pattaya at Night reports that the venue is being renovated and will re-open after extensive rework.

Three Australians have bought Gentlemen's Club in Soi Diamond, right next door to Spanky's.

Renovations are being completed and the new owners hope to have the ground floor open around Wednesday 11th April. The 2nd floor should open 2 - 3 weeks from now.

There is a royal funeral on Monday 9th of June. The bars have been asked to turn off the lights and music for 3 days from the 8th to the 10th. This seems to mean that the main gogos, coyote bars and discos will be closed for those 3 days.

However it seems that the beer bars will be allowed to remain open in a low key way.

Maybe the 3 days off will spill over into a welcome long break for the girls who like to go home for Songkran (official holidays stretching over 13-17th, and water being thrown from 11th-19th).

So a 12 day break from the GoGos for those who choose to avoid the water madness.

Update:

There seems to be a bit of buzz that the GoGos will try for a re-opening on 10th.

There was plenty of music on TV on the 8th so its not a total prohibition. It looks like entertainment programmes will be banished from TV on the day of the funeral itself, on the 9th.

Baron Club is located on Soi Diamond, near Pratamnak Road

Baron Club closed after a police raid in mid March.

It re-opened on 1st April with the added hassle that dancers will be strictly bikini clad for a month.

Mamasang Miki has departed and taken some of the younger dancers with her.

There are now quite a healthy 77 Pattaya area bars with dancers in bikinis or less.

Guugle Show is located on Walking Street above Champion and with the entrance next door.

Guugle had a few days off to complete a bit of building work. The replaced a stage previously used for shows with more seating. The bra is now more focused on the central stage.

The GoGo count returns to 76, albeit including the intermittent Eazy A-GoGo.

Meanwhile New York New York will open at the Soi Marine Plaza venue that was previously Coyotee's A-GoGo. The new bar looks set to be a coyote bar and will open on 2nd April 2012.