Big fire down Soi Bintabaat

[Lung Per]

Isn't the whole of Soi 80 owned my a high ranking Police Officer. Isn't also named after him Soi Sarowat ?

Yes, you are quite right. And that's why the area has less trouble with the fuzz.

[oakdale160]

I farang bar-owner who is almost always in his bar, tells me that many bars are owened by foreigner's wives/g'friends . They run them in a very half-hearted way and then at the end of the month, phone Stockholm for a check to pay off the loss.

[Lung Per]

I farang bar-owner who is almost always in his bar, tells me that many bars are owened by foreigner's wives/g'friends . They run them in a very half-hearted way and then at the end of the month, phone Stockholm for a check to pay off the loss.

Could you give me that phone number in Stockholm? I'd like a check too.

[caller]

As for your solution - that is just what most people don't want to see - tourists and expats alike - because if the only way to run a bar is by de-facto pimping, then pretty soon there is little to distinguish Hua Hin from Soi Cowboy or Walking Street in Pattaya. If there were more customers in the bars, there would be more girls. But unfortunately putting in more girls and hoping for customer levels to jump as a result is not only putting the cart before the horse, but is likely to hit the bourgeois diversity that makes the place acceptable to the vast majority.

I wasn't there, but at a guess I'd say that the reason the Binta area developed and then grew in the 1st place was because of bar girls. I certainly noticed the change from 2000 when I 1st visited. Yet its never developed into anything you describe above.

Admittedly the last time I spent any time there was a while back, but I remember thinking how many bars were packed out with a different type of clientele, couples, families etc as well as the expected single and groups of blokes, so I think its a bit presumptuous to say this isn't what tourists and expats want? The area has always had a variety of bars and catered for everyone.

As an aside, whilst in Korat recently, I met a guy who was visiting a friend from the UK before travelling on to wherever and we got talking about Hua Hin. The bars came up for discussion and I mentioned there was plenty of bars where he could just go for a drink and not be hassled, and he replied that if he wanted that, he'd simply stay at home and visit his local!

[oakdale160]

[quote="caller"][quote="Korkenzieher"]As for your solution - that is just what most people don't want to see - tourists and expats alike - because if the only way to run a bar is by de-facto pimping, then pretty soon there is little to distinguish Hua Hin from Soi Cowboy or Walking Street in Pattaya.

Give me a break-- little to distinguish HH from SC or WS What about GoGos?, what about topless girls? and naked girls?

[Pleng]

The trouble as I see it, is Thailand never seems to be able to do things by halves. I mean, if the burnt down bars do get regenerated into hotels, or restaurant, or some other attraction, does that really matter? Let's be honest nobody would cry if there were 2 or 3, or even 10 less bars in that area! Considering the amount of people who actually frequent the area, a few less bars would be more likely to bring people into the same bar, as opposed to the current smattering of the odd couple here and the odd few there. Of course this would also be more beneficial for the remaining bar owners as there would be a bit less competition.

Like I say, though, it seems to be all or nothing here. If person A is building a hotel, then person B next door couldn't possibly be left out of the game, and they'll have to have a hotel too. And so the 'momentum' continues....

[Korkenzieher]

อะไรก็ได้

If you re-read my post, you will realise that my point is that right now there *is* quite a lot to distinguish HH from SC. And that most people are happy with it that way. I am also saying that the suggestions higher up would reduce that distinction. And that would be a less popular thing.

[margaretcarnes]

There's a couple of misconceptions steve2. Firstly, the rents of the bars in town are very high. Since 2007 there has been a substantial collapse of western tourism to certain parts of Thailand - whatever TAT says - and nowhere is this more evident than the Sois around Bintabaht. In 2007, most evenings during the high season were pretty busy and you could say that the high season ran pretty solidly from October through to February.

Since 2007, tourism numbers to Thailand are officially higher and Hua Hin is allegedly regularly booked out. However, it is pretty clear to anybody who cares to look, that most of this is due to internal Thai tourism, and increase in Asian visitors in general. What is also pretty clear, is that those new types of tourists don't seem to be attracted by bars and restaurants that are, fundamentally, designed for people with European tastes. The bars remain largely empty and the season ever shorter. The lame apology that passes for high season in Thailand in the last 5 years or so doesn't get under way much before Christmas. While things appear better than they were a couple of years ago - particularly for the restaurants - times are still pretty thin.

Consequently, there simply aren't the people to justify the numbers of bars that need to be funded all year round. To see why, it is worth chatting with certain bar owners, who are willing to be more forth-coming about rents (Thais and more than happy to tell you about a Farang who is being skinned blind, by their estimation...). For anybody who sits on Binta long enough to see the real level of passing trade, 7 days a week, it is pretty clear that for some, if not most, the sums just cannot add up. Even in certain bars which appear to be reasonably busy.

As for your solution - that is just what most people don't want to see - tourists and expats alike - because if the only way to run a bar is by de-facto pimping, then pretty soon there is little to distinguish Hua Hin from Soi Cowboy or Walking Street in Pattaya. If there were more customers in the bars, there would be more girls. But unfortunately putting in more girls and hoping for customer levels to jump as a result is not only putting the cart before the horse, but is likely to hit the bourgeois diversity that makes the place acceptable to the vast majority.

Losses of bars to incidents like the fire is a real shame, because the new building, whatever it is, will have a higher base cost that has to be recovered - and bars just ain't cutting it.

Spot on Korkie - particularly that the sums rarely add up! And any new building(s) which replace Joy/Cheers will of course need to make more money to cover the bigger outlay on the build.
Or will they? We need to think Thai. Assuming that the new build will be a hotel, perhaps with a restaurant, and that it is built and run by the existing owner of the land, who of course sees other small hotels going up all over town and wants in on the act. He has virtually no overheads. I.E no leasehold costs. His building costs are probably much lower than a farang would pay. Similarly fitting the place out. Who knows - the TAT or Tessabahn may even be dishing out grants!
My old landlady on Naebkerhardt built a hotel. Her husband is in the export business in Bangkok, but she originated from HH. They simply wanted a retirement hobby in her home town. Somewhere their friends from Bangkok could come and stay. OK the place makes money, but that isn't the primary concern because they don't really need a profit - they need a showcase. Status.
Re. putting girls in the bars to attract tourists. Yes - it is putting the cart before the horse. But the other issue is that the girls follow the busiest bars. If HH was suddenly flooded with farang tourists the girls would flock there - tipped off by the bush telegraph, or hunted down by astute mamasans. Come low season many would disappear again. It is a situation that farang bar owners have little or no control over.

[hhfarang]

tipped off by the bush telegraph

Maybe this is ineffective as I hear most of them are clean shaven...

When I first came to Hua Hin, I used to go downtown to the bars nearly daily. After a couple of years that got really old; maybe because I'm old and married, or maybe because it just got boring and seemed ridiculous to sit and drink beer at 80 to 100 baht when I could sit much more comfortably and listen to better music or watch better TV at home and drink the same beer for 35 baht. After that I went down occasionally for a couple more years to three "off binta block" places, namely Bernies, Billies, and whatever place Canadian Barry was running at the time. Now the only time I go down there is for a meal at El Murphy's or one of the other restaurants.

I know there are a few old single guys here who still enjoy the scene (Richard ) but I think that kind of area is mostly attractive to younger single guys. Most of those young single tourists go to Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, or Samui. Even among European tourists, mostly what I see in Hua Hin are families. They may go down there for the odd drink and to have a look at the circus, but they're not going to spend evening after evening there with their kids in tow. I'm not sure there are enough young single expat guys here to warrant even a bar district the size of what we have.

Maybe it's a difference in culture, but even as a young lad, I didn't go sit on a bar stool and chat up the guy next to me every night. There were parties, pick up places that usually had dancing or were a restaurant mainly during the day then turned into a party bar after dinner hour, but we didn't have that go to my "local" pub and spend every night drinking with the same crew thing.

[richard]

I know there are a few old single guys here who still enjoy the scene (Richard )

5 years ago, yes. Now? very rarely and only to meet up with friends.

For me Binta has lost it's edge and is too noisy, too expensive, impolite b/g's and rapidly becoming katoey territory. Maybe it's old age. I can remember the days when traffic couldn't get down there for overflowing bars and you could actually have a conversation in a bar without hassle.

It's still an attraction for tourists and the lads who come and visit every few months though but not enough trade methinks to sustain a reasonable income for the majority of bar owners. Days numbered IMO

[joecoolfrog]

I will be spending 5 days in HH next month and dont expect to go hungry or thirsty , standing still for 2 minutes will probably be sufficient to attract female company , remind me what the problem is....

[STEVE G]

Certainly the turnover of bar ownership around the center, particularly on the route around soi Selakam and onto Binthabat suggests that generally there isn't the amount of business to support the large number of bars there. I spend quite a bit of time out when I'm in town, not directly in Binthabat but I walked around there on a few evenings over the last month and I was amazed at how many had changed hands over the last year or so.

[Jose]

I will be spending 5 days in HH next month and dont expect to go hungry or thirsty , standing still for 2 minutes will probably be sufficient to attract female company , remind me what the problem is....

you will be fine as you are a buyer, its the sellers that are struggling due to Western tourist (perverts) numbers decreasing.

But quality will always standout, from what I see if a bar has 7 girls its the same 1-2 girls that get the customers all the time.

Unfortunately if your selling something that 50% of the population can also sell then unless you have a niche you will struggle.

[joecoolfrog]

I will be spending 5 days in HH next month and dont expect to go hungry or thirsty , standing still for 2 minutes will probably be sufficient to attract female company , remind me what the problem is....

you will be fine as you are a buyer, its the sellers that are struggling due to Western tourist (perverts) numbers decreasing.

But quality will always standout, from what I see if a bar has 7 girls its the same 1-2 girls that get the customers all the time.

Unfortunately if your selling something that 50% of the population can also sell then unless you have a niche you will struggle.

I agree with all you say , my post was simply a tongue in cheek response to those who suggest the town needs a more heavily concentrated bar scene. If I want a Pattaya style experience then I will go there , definitely not the direction Hua Hin should be moving in.

[Arlo]

10 years ago most everything anyone needed was all down in that area. If you wanted to eat, drink or a friend, that was the place to go. Sure there was the Phoenix bar and the other bar next to it outside of town but most things farang style were all downtown. Soi 80, 88, 94 and 102 didn't have much at all. Some of you remember when immigration was down 102 and it was a road leading nowhere basically. Heading up the mountain towards the old driving range and there wasn't to much that way either. I remember a outdoor style Thai pub up that way that burnt down. Now that HH has grown so much and people are living outside of downtown and there are restaurants and bars and small mom and pop shops that local expats can eat and drink at and pay much less and not have to deal with traffic, downtown is not so important anymore. If I sit downtown now and people watch I find I am watching a lot of families now. Sure I still see some local old timers and some guys on holiday looking for that perfect girl but nothing like the years before. Now it seems to be western families looking for a place to eat and have a drink. I remember being able to spend an afternoon downtown drinking beers and shooting the shit with guys that live here. Now it seems you have to go to soi 80 for that. Times have changed and there are so many more places around town now, that everyone having to come to the center of town for everything is over. The good old days have past by.