Bar Reports

[Jun]

It would be nice if both Winner and Eros would reopen somewhere, especially if Jomtien Complex is ever allowed to have go-go bars, but I don't think there is much chance of that happening.

As far as I can see, the rules are not the barrier to such bars relocating to Jomtien. All they would need to do is call it anything other than a gogo bar, dispense with the numbers on the boys and put on some token show. Then nothing would stop them having boys wandering around in underwear. As we already see in certain bars.

Lack of customer demand is the real reason why Winner and Eros will not reopen in Jomtien.

For all the nostalgia, Eros seemed pretty quiet for some years before it closed.

Winner is the same. Admittedly, for some of us, the boy selection is not good enough to justify a visit. But that's a circular problem. Not enough customers want to visit gogo bars, so the cute boys find they can make just as much money in Jomtien, with their clothes on. So the boy selection declines. Then there is even more reason for the customers to stay away.

If anyone would like to reply with an argument that the demand for gogo bars is still there, as supporting evidence, please tell us how many times you visited a gogo bar in the last 12 months. [For me, it's once]

[Dodger]

They can close the doors and turn off the lights - but no one can erase the fabulous and surrealistic MEMORIES.

For that reason...Sunee Plaza will live forever.

[Gaybutton]

If anyone would like to reply with an argument that the demand for gogo bars is still there

Ok, I'll argue. I have no supporting evidence that if a go-go bar the likes of Winner or Eros ever opens in Jomtien Complex it would succeed or fail. Neither do you because it hasn't been tried. So, if it ever does happen, I make no assumptions about success or failure. I'd be happy enough to at least give it a try and see how it works out.

[Jun]

There are plenty of reasons for not visiting gogo bars.
People either have boyfriends, a Line contacts list full of boys they already know, Hornet, Grindr, Jack'd or they visit host bars.

Some active members have their own reasons for hardly ever visiting the bars now. Boyfriends, phone apps, or whatever.

To conclude gogo bars would work, you have to expect that other people would visit them.

Now I'm not good enough at reading the minds of other people, but two things are obvious:
1 The gogo bar trade is dead
2 People have alternative ways of meeting boys, some of which did not exist 20 years ago.

I'd say Classic Boys is the best gogo in Pattaya. A fine selection of boys on stage in underwear. Drink prices were reasonable for a gogo bar, yet on my last visit, I was the only customer in there. I was unlikely to off anyone, as I'd already made arrangements. They can't survive like that.

[SP55]

I agree with Jun: gogo-bars are a thing of the past. I love/loved them but evidently most others don't. Even in Sunee plazas last years as a vibrant and great place, customers just didn't want to go. And the barowners did nothing to try to save the area, so it died.

Chinese customers prefer places with dressed boys and the karaoke concept. Farangs want shows with ladyboys in silly outfits.

Boyztown adopted to the chinese market and can hardly even be called a gay zone anymore. Classic boys and Toyboys are the only genuine boy agogos left in Pattaya and still worth a visit even if prices are high imho.

[Jun]

Classic boys and Toyboys are the only genuine boy agogos left in Pattaya and still worth a visit even if prices are high imho.

I'd agree those are the only decent gogo bars left. Yet, just like some other members here, I hardly ever visit them.

As for prices, I don't think they are unreasonable after considering that it probably costs more to run a gogo bar.

1 I'm fairly sure the boys need paying to appear on stage in underwear and to turn up reliably. Whereas in some Jomtien host bars, all they get is the 50 baht a drink and customer tips.
2 I suspect the police demand more tea money. Every time a bar has a disagreement with them, the boys seem to wear jeans for a while until it's smoothed over & the jeans come off.
3 Classic & Toy Boys have many non-Thai boys. Whereas the owner of a certain Sunee gogo told me the police demand more tea money for putting foreign boys on stage, hence he only has Thai boys. However, these days you need the foreign boys in order to get an attractive enough selection.

Winner tried the low cost gogo model, with only Thai boys. In recent years, that selection of boys was not good enough to get some us to visit on a regular basis.

A gogo bar needs to spend enough to get the right kind of boys on stage.

That means the drinks will cost more, but the evidence suggests that customers are not prepared to pay for that.

[Gaybutton]

I have to agree that go-go bars, at least how they were years ago - long before apps such as Romeo and Grindr ever existed and back in the days there also were plenty of boys at the beach, and as I recall nearly all of them were Thai, now they are history.

I'm one of those who also lost interest in the go-go bars. I can't even remember the last time I set foot in a go-go bar. It's been years. Those who have been on this board long enough may remember I used to post about the go-go bars regularly.

However I am not among those who believe if a go-go bar ever opens in Jomtien Complex it probably already is doomed to failure. However, the way things are, I don't foresee ever getting the chance to find out.

[christianpfc]

Farangs want shows with ladyboys in silly outfits.

I don't want to see ladyboys in gogo bars, and nobody I know wants to see ladyboys in gogo bars. They have their place in Thai society, it's just not my thing and I wouldn't watch these shows if they were free. There is an amount I can endure, if the rest is boys in underwear. If there is too much ladyboy, I go elsewhere. Not that there are many places left to go, other than online.

[Oliver]

It would be nice if both Winner and Eros would reopen somewhere, especially if Jomtien Complex is ever allowed to have go-go bars, but I don't think there is much chance of that happening.

As far as I can see, the rules are not the barrier to such bars relocating to Jomtien. All they would need to do is call it anything other than a gogo bar, dispense with the numbers on the boys and put on some token show. Then nothing would stop them having boys wandering around in underwear. As we already see in certain bars.

I'm not good with the labels but when I was there recently, there were boys dancing on stage in briefs and even g-strings in Gus Bar, M Bar and maybe Best Bar in Supertown. Doesn't that qualify as gogo?

[Jun]

I don't want to see ladyboys in gogo bars, and nobody I know wants to see ladyboys in gogo bars.

I agree. I don't want to see lady boys on stage in the bars I visit. I definitely don't want them centre stage with boys in secondary roles, as seems to be quite common. Put the boys centre stage, second to no one !
However, if we look around the bars in Pattaya, the cabaret bars are the ones which seem to survive. I don't understand it, but that's the way it is.

I'm not good with the labels but when I was there recently, there were boys dancing on stage in briefs and even g-strings in Gus Bar, M Bar and maybe Best Bar in Supertown. Doesn't that qualify as gogo?

Officially, no.
But once the show was done at M-Bar, the boys were on stage in briefs. I agree that's almost indistinguishable from a gogo bar.

The last time I was in Gus bar, they had shorts on. But that was over a year ago & as the music was far too loud, I've not rushed back. Have the shorts come off now ?