Thought I would give a quick update on closing times and a few bars but first, this just in from Nashdale:
In other important news, looks like closing times for Nana Plaza and bars on soi 4 have crept back to 2:00am with some of the soi bars going until 3:00am. This started Wednesday night and was the case last night as well. The After Hours scene is starting to slide back as well.
Spice on Soi 11 was going until 3:00am on Tuesday but expected to slide back an hour to 4:00am this week. Spicy by MBK has been going until 4:00am recently and should be going later too. All in all, looks like closing times are moving back about one hour.
In other bar news, had a night out the other night. Started out at the Londoner by soi 33 for a drink. It was Monday night and they have great 99 baht drink specials all night. It was my first time here and I was very impressed with the layout. The pub has everything, a sectioned off restaurant, very friendly staff, pool, games, stage for live music, a huge rectangular bar, and little private pub booths along the side wall. They also provide complimentary nuts with your drinks. A great start to the evening.
From there we went to Mojo’s for dinner. Also my first time. I put this site into the guide a while back and was always curious about it. It looked amazing on the web but I heard that it’s always empty. Well, both of those things were true during my visit. The place is really nice. One of the nicest bars I’ve been to in Bangkok. Very stylish with brick and brass everywhere. It’s clean and has all the trimmings with a very friendly staff. The food was also very good albeit a bit expensive. What’s amazing about the place though is that it was completely dead as I’ve heard. We were there for a few hours and there was only one other customer the whole time. To me, I don’t understand how such a cool bar is empty when right across the soi is The Office which is crap imho and is always rammed???
After dinner we decided to play some pool at the Ball in Hand on Soi 4. This has always been a favorite spot to play pool. The tables are top notch and the staff friendly. After the Ball in Hand and on the way out of soi 4 we passed by Charming Bar and picked up Wan, ex-Mango girl. Somebody already paid her bar earlier so she was itching to come along.
It was then onto the clubs on soi 11 for some dancing. I wanted to try Twisted Republic but it was closed. Anybody know why???
Next stop, Spice. I’ve never been here before 2:00am so was curious to see what it was like. One word, horrible. A complete waste of time. It was empty, the music was loud, and the staff were running around doing whatever the hell they wanted. The worse part was when the Coyote girls who are so full of themselves came by with the tray of 200 baht Tequila Shots. Perhaps the biggest ripoff in Bangkok since each shot probably cost them about 5 baht. Anyway, the thing that was annoying is how the Coyote girls try to work the girl your with and peer pressure you into buying one. I actually got a bit rude when the second set of Coytote waitresses came over and asked again if I want to be ripped off and buy their shit Tequila. We left after that. Spice would be done if they weren’t so connected to go late late.
Next up, the infamous Q Bar . At 500 baht/person cover which includes two drinks and it being Monday night I asked the door lady if I could peek in before buying three entrance tickets. It was horrible so we were off to Bed Supperclub . Q Bar for me has always been horrible and continues to be. Anyway, on to Bed. The cover here was 600 baht/person which includes two drinks as well. Music was good but the crowd is just unbearable for me. So pretentious. Farang pretty boys looking for Thai supermodels, hippo farang chicks thinking their god’s gift looking for pretty boys, Thai working girls with attitude, etc. I was out of there after my second drink.
I got home, called my blow and go specialist and was to bed by 3:00am. All in all a fun night.
-pmmp
I was at the MoJo Grand Opening a few years back and I thought it had great potential. It had a great band and lots of people.
I’ve been back a time or two and it’s always empty and there’s never a band playing anymore.
I have no idea what happened.
View all comments by bo
bo - it is strange. Someone correct me if I am wrong but is not the owner of Mojos the guy who sold the office and used some of the cash to build mojos?
View all comments by smitty
“Music was good but the crowd is just unbearable for me. So pretentious. Farang pretty boys looking for Thai supermodels, hippo farang chicks thinking their god’s gift looking for pretty boys, Thai working girls with attitude, etc. I was out of there after my second drink.”
sorta like being transported to the US or UK for a bit…
…minus the working girls with attitudes part.
View all comments by anon
anon - no the US or UK has the working girls with attitude. It is the service staff…
View all comments by smitty
windsor suites closing times?
curtailing it was just such a waste of time as its back now. i have seen the full cycle now - late - short - and back to late. all in space of couple of months. the whole thing was just such a waste of time.
View all comments by daddy
anon: yup. Thankfully I can leave these places quickly and get back to what we know and love about Bangkok.
daddy: without getting specific about “under the table” payments, it probably wasn’t such a waste of time for some folks as new deals with new people get struck
View all comments by pmmp
Been to Mojo’s 6 or 7 times and always empty. Actually this is why I go there now: when I want to be sure to get a pool table
Despite the overall look, The Office has a better atmosphere than Mojo’s in my opinion.
Twisted Republic was open last week. Cool place. Not aware of any changes.
View all comments by Suk Psycho
mojos. is that the place straight oppisite the office? ive been in there and busy and band and coyote dancers. nice.
View all comments by daddy
daddy: When was that last visit to Mojo’s? I think they had Coyote dancers in the past but maybe cut back on coyote dancers and live music due to lack of customers so curious when you were there last. Their website shows a lively place with a band and coyote dancers like you say but I think it’s more like bo, sukpsycho and I have recently experienced.
View all comments by pmmp
i walked in there just last week i think. walked in twice. once was dead. then walked in later. and was buzzing. think its all in timing. gota be there when shows on.
View all comments by daddy
d - interesting to know but this strategy of no one really knowing when the place might have a show or when it might be busy does not bode well for the place. most people work off of first or initial impressions. For mojos mist people see empty bar. So seems to me they will need to make the shows more regular or make sure people know when they are since most people are not going to keep returning to a dead bar hoping they get their timing right some day.
View all comments by smitty
i kinda wonder what you were expecting on a monday night.
View all comments by MSB
daddy: good info., thx
msb: It was more about being surprised that there was only one other customer in such a large and cool place. After seeing the place I would now expect many more customers, even on a Monday night in low season. I’m actually on Suk Psycho’s page though and like an empty bar. I will certainly go back but if it’s busy I’m walking right out.
View all comments by pmmp
That sign is the best one I have seen ever, hands down. To inform people that there is “no fishing” really makes me wonder though.
View all comments by aussie tom
Just got back from bkk this week.
Spent a fair bit of time at Mojo’s. Have a band 6 nights a week.
Dancers six nights too I think. Excellent pool tables and a classier feel than your average joint though more expensive but as stated better food. Multiple screens for sport of all sorts. I like it because got a relaxed feel, good staff, good music, dancers who can dance and a general lack of errrmm people who I might find objectionable.( No one from here you understand) Never bothered going to the office.
Number of patrons doesn’t bother me at all but does get busy sometimes. Hope to go back soon.
View all comments by wenthworth
Any1 know the deal or can shed any light on the closing times in KhaoSan/Patpong beer bars? How come they slip under the radar when it comes to the european football nights and other places with serious clout/cash (spicy/spice etc) seem to get stung?
Surely they cant offer up the kind of reddies that the bigboys can?
Went up Khaosan on Wednesday for the football, and id say between 1/4 and 1/2…….. (ok, for arguements sake lets say 1/3) of all beer bars were jumping, and the night before majority of the beer bars at ‘the beer bar end’ were open aswell
View all comments by Young Penfold
No more Coyotes at Mojo’s?
Say it ain’t so.
Last time I was there in early March, most of the young and sexy Coyotes were new. I know they finish dancing at 1 AM because I’ve been out after hours with a couple. The band was still rockin when we left. I think the band and the dancers begin at 10 PM.
The Brit owner of both Mojo’s and The Office parks his Ferrari outside. One of the girls told me as he parked and walked into Mojo’s that her boss just arrived.
The Office is always rammed with Brits because of the many TVs with English football and Rugby games and many ladies available for companionship and takeout. 2500 baht barfine as of Oct. Half goes to the lady.
If you’re liking to heaving crowds, Mojo’s is not for you. In fact it sucks. Stay away. Its why I visit a few times a week to drink and chat with the Coyotes without much in the way of disruptions from monger crowds.
The Mojo dancers are not barfineable and they don’t have the usual lower-Suk-tudes. Hmmmm
View all comments by Pablo likes Guiness
young penfold: my understanding is hotel bars are exempt from closing times and a lot of places in khaosarn get away with claiming to be a part of a guest house.
View all comments by bkkunderground
I missed off my last post that the ‘beer bar end’ was in Patpong which is always open for late night football, and not KhaoSan - my bad
Now you come to mention it the place we watched it was a massive restaurant type/bar type place with a hotel above so they may have swerved it that way
View all comments by Young Penfold
Smitty,
To answer your question . . . yes and no on the ownership of Mojos.
Yes, current owner of Mojos is same as owner of office (Bob).
No, he was not original owner.
At 1st rollout, no barfines & girls initially. Dancers, etc. came later.
Upsides: Good band & wine list. Used to have great ribs. Also expat friendly.
Downsides: Can be slow. Good for locals, but no talent per say. While it shouldn’t, it does seem to compete with both the Office across alley and Lookie-Lookie on the next sub soi.
IMO, this place should friggin’ ROCK with a line out the door (under both new and old ownership). Something askew has run amok.
Signed,
Knows more than I should about this place.
View all comments by arbiez
pmmp, surprised you hadn’t been to the londoner before. the wait staff is super cool. i hung out with some of them and they are a lot of fun off site too. i also like the dubliner near emporium, they have irish music for whoever happens to like that kind of stuff (i think, in sunday afternoons). the beer girls at the dubliner are quite gorgeous.
View all comments by julian
all - was more just curious how the place gets this incredible word of mouth but never seems to be busy. kind of strange in some way. will have to check it out sometime. cool.
penfold - patpong is a strange beast. almost is its own zone entirely. huge money maker for the landlord and cops. owned all by just a few families but you get these weird anomalies there. for instance the kings groups enforcing smoking rules when no one else was. supposedly that was some little war with the police. then you see the building that used to have the red parrot - prime space. completely shutdown cause one brother did not want is other brother collecting the rent money.
I also think the powers that be don’t mind letting all that cess pool go late since it contains it to one known area.
View all comments by smitty
PlG: From the comments here you can tell that the Coyote gals are still there. They weren’t there when I went but it just depends on when you go. Thx all for clearing this up.
julian: Yeah, not sure what took me so long. Did research before venturing into the Duke Pub but never made it to the Londoner.
YP: Patpong definitely goes later than anywhere else, and they also seem to get by better on non-drinking and non-smoking days. Not sure why but the relationship with the Police is obviously one of the closest. The only thing they aren’t ahead of is nudity. I suspect it’s because it’s such a heavy tourist area. Wouldn’t want mom and pop tourist with their little kids peeping into the pong side gogo’s and seeing beaver. Little Timmie would have nightmares for a week.
View all comments by pmmp
In case any doubt remains, Mojos has live band and coyote dancers 6 nights a week from 9:30 until closing. It’s a great bar that is rarely crowded.
If you want to see a sample of the coyote dancers at Mojos, try looking here:
http://bargirlsrpeople2.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/my-milkshake-brings-all-the-boys-to-the-yard/
View all comments by werewolf
Also, the last time I was there (about a week ago) the waitresses were busily ferrying trays of food from Mojos to the Office Bar directly opposite. This may help explain the econmics of it all for the owner.
View all comments by werewolf
That’s 9:30 PM ?…Well, that explains why I haven’t seen the band or the coyotes at Mojo..
Us old guys need our rest sonny.
View all comments by bo
the owner has a ferrari!!
my god. maybe shuld get into this myself.
View all comments by daddy
d - i would venture to guess he had ferrari money prior to the bar biz
View all comments by smitty
Ferrari, pfff, it’s no Tesla Roadster that’s for sure. Go Tesla!!!
View all comments by pmmp
Way to go Pmmp. Back to core business at the end of the night. I normally skip those studies of Q, B, and the others. What is the point? They are always just what you say and at the end of the day all you really need is a good root and then snap out the lights. The Londoner is a good spot as you say, but I always found the music too loud to talk. If its a dance club loud music is expected, but what’s the point when you are trying to talk with your mates?
View all comments by Bungrash
yp - i think it’s been so for many years… the tight clothes boys in patpong for what ever reason seem to allow the longer opening times than most other areas in bkk.
a friend used to own a small club in khaosan rd and each night they seemed to have a contact that informed them of the exact closing time in patpong… and they would close not long after that. back then they were big with the LB crowd.
i would guess most places in khaosan these days dont have a chance.
View all comments by Mr Carpet
Twisted Republic closed due to a police sting which found the staff there to be selling drugs. During the raid, one of the girls working there was found to be 15 years old. Another was found to be of Laos citizenship and not working in Thailand “under the legal sense.” The British owner and his Thai co-owner are in jail and the trial is currently in progress. Twisted Republic will open back up depending on the disposition at the end of the trial and/or new ownership. Trial is said to continue for one more month…which is good in the sense that hopefully those “meter but no meter” taxi mafia cocksuckers that hang out in front of the Grand President Hotel suffer due to lack of drunk unknowing customers.
If you’re one of those people that believe in conspiracy in the Land of Smiles, the disco probably didn’t pay their “tea money” dues to the cops. The boys in brown therefore weren’t policing the som tam rice & egg cart across the street but the establishment in question.
As far as Q-Bar, that place used to be bumpin’ back in the day. Then came the expat visa rules, a coup d’état, and some New Year’s Eve bombings. That might have taken its bite on the farang patrons. Keeping the 500 baht cover charge probably fucked things up also as it eats away at a man’s nightly bar fine fund. What we need is a place with no cover, reasonable drink prices, a grill cooking great hamburgers, some nice pieces of ass and….we need THE BIG MANGO BAR!!!!
See you June 1st….preach on Brother pmmp!!!
View all comments by Big Wally
wally - wow. I am not saying I don’t believe you so don’t take this the wrong way but how do u know this or where else is this being talked about because this was the first I heard of this other than knowing the place was not open for a few days.
thx
View all comments by smitty
BigWally: Great info. thanks! I was wondering why they were closed but no way imagined this. Given their name and the twisted world of Bangkok this will probably help them in the long run, if they can remain open that is. That place needed a jolt. Let’s see if this particular jolt kills them or makes them stronger.
Oh, and thanks for the kind words, made my day, so far that is. Too early to tell. Getting psyched about the new Mango for sure. We’ll do our best to make sure the Mango meets your requirements, nice pieces of ass and all.
View all comments by pmmp
Smit: I got the information about Twisted through a lawyer that is now representing my Thai girlfriend…uh, I mean one of my Thai “significant others” for that day of the week. His name is Sathanapong Rattanophat (a.k.a. “Mr. Ko”) and his office is located in the Bangbon District. He has some of his old university alumni friends working as judges in the Thai court system. According to him, if the owners are found guilty, the Thai government takes the bar at which point it’s up for grabs. Mr. Ko is a great lawyer that’ll go to war for you but his English isn’t too good (and I’m not talking about the usual Thai-English standard).
Pmmp: I have faith in the Big Mango Bar and all its ass pieces…and the burgers too. I vow to make your day with a nice bar tab and maybe a few rings on your “round-of-drinks” bell.
View all comments by Big Wally
w - thanks. just did not want people to think we did not try to verify it or that the source was not good. seems like u know. Are they still closed then? What a mess.
We appreciate the bar tab help.
View all comments by smitty
Don’t worry. I wouldn’t bullshit you. I understand the value of credibility in a forum. Big Mango personnel have my loyalty. Any giver of beer and pussy is a friend in my book.
I’m not in Thailand at the moment and I don’t really know if Twisted is open yet or not. The last update I got it was still closed and in legal limbo. I won’t be back in Thailand for another week or so. I acutally used to stay next to Twisted at the Grand President for the long term (due to the monthly price and bedrooms with lots of mirrors). But I ended up cracking my knuckles on the skull of a mafia taxi driver who works outside the hotel. Things between me and the local taxi mafia weren’t the same after that incident. Guess I have to find another apartment-hotel with a good deal. Any recommendations? (I stay for one month at a time).
View all comments by Big Wally
BigW: One of the reasons we started http://www.durianseed.com is because we were being asked these type of hotel recommendation questions all the time. We still have a bunch more hotels to add but there are a few up there now including one I just added, Bright City Tower Service Apartment which a friend told me about.
I’m sure you know about it already since it’s in your favorite neighborhood but maybe you’ve never stayed there. My friend raved about it and even gave me their card. Their monthly rates seem pretty reasonable too starting at 22,000 and they have a nice website with a good deal of pics. Good luck and if you do stay there you can be the first to review it
.
View all comments by pmmp
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
View all comments by Big Wally
We would just like to state that every thread that has been posted here is false and miss leading. Twisted Republic has now returned to 2am closing times after experiencing a one month change in Government policies, this was also experienced by many other clubs all over Thailand.
At no time over the early closing period was Twisted Republic raided by the police, no one was found to be under age, and there certainly was at no point any arrests made for selling drugs. Please be aware that the above information is totally untrue and has been posted by an individual who obviously has a totally unreliable information source.
Regards
Twisted Republic
View all comments by Twisted Republic
If this is indeed Twisted Republic thank you very much for clearing this up. I was actually disappointed that the place was closed when I went and was surprised certainly at BW’s comment.
Of course, we all know that online blogs/forums/whatever are subject to misinformation. I’m still not sure what to believe here but will now do the proper investigation to find out what is really going on. I will then Post back.
TR dude, you can email us directly here with contact information and perhaps help us clear this up.
View all comments by pmmp