Police Raid Jomtien Plaza - All Bars/Restaurants Ordered Closed

[PeterRS]

There is a report on sawatdee network that the police raided Jomtien Plaza last night and ordered all bars and restaurants closed until mid-January. There seems to be no confirmation. Anyone here have any more information?

https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showthread.php?22524-Jomtien-Complex-Raid-December-10

[Guest]

I was planning a night out in Jomtien together with another board member.

Unfortunately there was a police vehicle parked at the top of the Soi and their staff were seen talking to people inside one business.  All the other bars spotted this and were sending customers away.  The bars in the complex remained closed after the police departed.

There was one girly bar open around the corner, but most such places were also closed. 

I'm not sure where this leaves Thai reopening.  Everyone who wants vaccines can get them.  So if they don't reopen now, when will they ?

Photo taken at about 23:30.

[spoon]

Sad. Pattaya jomtien was the last refuge for fun in pattaya and now all gone. I dint understand why even the restaurants are ordered to close though. Maybe boys will now go back to working at the dongtan beach during the day? 

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, z909 said:

I was planning a night out in Jomtien together with another board member.

I like to point proper procedure in that post. 

It was  actually me but since by time of posting I did not announce my arrival on the public forum, just in case z909 properly left my name out and it' s how should be done.

It was none of secret but our whereabouts should be left to ourselves to announce where we are and what we are doing, not to mention with whom. 

I will report  how situation will be tonight, of course time permitting. 

Jomtien area is quite a dead zone with many businesses closed and  boarded and those opened are deptived of custom with very few exception but everybody is somehow hanging there and fun is still to be had with little effort so I would not spread doom and gloom. 

Boys don't need the beach with apps and still some foot traffic. Sun is still shining. 

[Gaybutton]

10 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Anyone here have any more information?

I walked through this evening, Saturday December 11.  Dead as a doornail.  Mostly dark.  A couple restaurants were open.  A couple massage shops were open.  The only bar I saw open was @Home bar.  I doubt there was a total of more than 25 boys in the entire complex.

[spoon]

One bar is open is a good news indeed! 

[Guest]

For comparison, I walked up part of Soi Bukhao tonight, to check out how many straight bars were open.

A few were open, but most were closed.  The open bars varied from places with SHA approval and probable restaurant status, to smaller bars which looked most unlikely to have restaurant status.  Some had the foolproof disguise of low light levels, presumably assuming Pattaya Police might somehow not notice.  Even some places such as Zappa, with an SHA sign on clear display and a food menu were closed.

Earlier in the week, I did a walk down one of the alleys onto walking street, up part of walking street and then through Boyztown.  I saw one beer bar open, in an alley from second row to walking street.  

[Gaybutton]

Police ban the appetite for booze in Jomtien’s gay street

By Barry Kenyon

December 11, 2021

A police raid at the Jomtien Complex, sometimes known as Super Town, has effectively closed the open-street gay bars just one week after they had reopened. It had been widely assumed that the bars were in the clear serving alcohol provided that they had obtained the SHA (Safety & Health Administration) certificate issued by government bodies.

However, Pattaya police and officials from the Department of Provincial Administration, which issues licenses, pointed out that the SHA certificate covers many types of businesses including restaurants, accommodation, travel agencies, health spas, souvenir shops etc. The SHA is not in itself a go-ahead to serve booze. The other requirement is that the business is licensed to serve food and – crucially – has eating as its main income earner.

Bars which serve booze as the mainstay, but offer food to customers as a sideline, are not deemed to be eligible under the Chonburi governor’s provincial edict of December 4 which specifies “restaurants”. They must also have the SHA certificate which requires a vaccinated staff, satisfactory sanitation and high-level public services. The popular Yupin’s restaurant in the Complex is an example of a fully-qualified business which can legally serve beer, wine and spirits to dining customers.

Police captain Tanakit said that the bars in question were really posing as eateries to justify selling alcohol, but this was not the purpose of the provincial edict which was designed to limit the spread of Covid. If bars wished to operate, they must offer food and soft drinks only and should close by 9 pm. Making a commercial profit on this basis is a no-no, although one Complex bar has been open for coffee and cakes for several weeks already.

Properly licensed restaurants with SHA certification can serve alcohol from 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to 11 pm under the provincial decree. Police added that they had received reports in the last few days that parties had been held in the offending bars until well past midnight with minimal attention paid to social distancing and mask wearing. No bar owners, staff or customers were arrested during the initial raid, but warnings were issued in clear language.

The Jomtien Complex, prior to the pandemic, was the center of Pattaya’s once-famed gay scene with competitors Boyztown and Sunee Plaza already well past their prime. Police later told reporters that they were not specifically targeting gay venues, pointing out that their raids until now had been on non-gay establishments operating illegally. But bar workers in the Complex commented that a merry Christmas 2021 now seems out of the question.

Government spokesmen have said that the intention is to allow night life to operate normally from mid January. But this depends on the success of the national vaccination program, the level of Covid infections and, in particular, the behavior of the Omicron virus variant. Meanwhile, Pattaya’s well-known nighteries such as Walking Street and Sexy Soi 6 remain mostly shuttered. Shaking off the resort’s ghost town image is proving very difficult indeed.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/police-ban-the-appetite-for-booze-in-jomtiens-gay-street-382600

[aussie_]

13 hours ago, spoon said:

One bar is open is a good news indeed! 

At Home Bar is open till 9.00 pm as a cafe and alcohol is not being served. They have very good coffee, sodas and cakes.

I saw a bar/restaurant outside of the Complex at Dongtan beach last night thronging with people and dancing in a large group with no distancing. The closure of Jomtien Complex bars/restaurants is very unfair.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, aussie_ said:

 

Pattaya Police law enforcement for gay bars:

 

And for comparison, straight bars (2 days after the Jomtien raid)

Spot the difference ?

[Boy69]

Your pictures says it all. Maybe it's because Jomtien Complex gay bars are not paying enough tee money to the police as their fellows from the straight bars...

[Travellerdave]

I’ve just viewed a video on YouTube showing nightlife at Tree Town on Soi Buakhow going strong. All tables at the so called restaurants seemed taken with patrons enjoying themselves, many drinking with no food in evidence.  Some single girls walking about which I took to be freelancers. 
possible / probable discrimination against gay bars ?. 

[vaughn]

Tree town has had its share of raids as well, along with other straight bars hitting the news with fines every other week, so I'm not really thinking it's targeted at gay venues.

I am actually surprised they let them all off with a stern warning... maybe some paper bags were involved? but no headlines about massive fines for the gay venues or patrons is something positive at least.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, vaughn said:

Tree town has had its share of raids as well

Yes, but Tree Town is open.  The whole system is seriously bent, not that I'm saying anything new here.

Either bars are allowed to open, or they are not.   If they are not permitted to open, surely the police should continually tour every area with bars to check compliance and shut them down.

To make raids, then allow certain bars to reopen, after some kind of "settlement" is nonsense.  Even if that's the way it always seems to be done.

Incidentally the description of a police "raid" on Jomtien needs a little clarification.  There was one Police pick up parked at the top of the Soi, with brown shirts in the one adjacent building.  We walked past twice, whilst touring the area and waiting to see if they would clear off and allow the businesses to reopen.

[Guest]

A Panoramic shot showing Pattaya Central Police station and the closest disco bar. With loud music, audible outside the police station.

The bar (open).  Alcohol being consumed, not food.  For some reason, this is allowed to open.  Like numerous other girly bars in the area.

For comparison, Boyztown.  The board software decides this should be upside down.  There is a girly bar open in the very next street (no photo).

[khaolakguy]

Thank heavens some members have found a new hobby, photographing closed bars and complaining about the way the thai system operates!

[gerefan]

4 hours ago, z909 said:

.  The board software decides this should be upside down. 

I had the same problem.

Try this.

1. Delete pic

2. Rotate pic more than 360 degrees on your device.

3. Repost.

Seems to work for me...

[Guest]

8 hours ago, khaolakguy said:

Thank heavens some members have found a new hobby, photographing closed bars and complaining about the way the thai system operates!

Where is the complaint in my most recent post ?

I'm just posting pictures to show what's going on. 

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, gerefan said:

I had the same problem.

Try this.

1. Delete pic

2. Rotate pic more than 360 degrees on your device.

3. Repost.

Seems to work for me...

Or we can rotate our tablet like I did

[vinapu]

We can only hope thing return to more normal in few days. 

Certainly bar closures don,t  eliminate availability of suitable companions. I landed great guy in one of massage places just by making preemptive move by pressing 100 baht in his hand while passing by. Next time I walked by in our ot two interest in me was guaranteed and we had no less then 4 exhaustive session of checking my banknote collection then I started to wonder if I,m not too old to be such avid collector. 

Bottom line, while bars are closed, entertainment is not. 

I agree with z909 sentiment the police movements seem to be discriminatory but as other posted noted, this is how Thai system works and is not up To us to repair it. We can only report. 

 

[aussie_]

Jomtiem Complex bars are open again now. There was a meeting of bar owners today. 

[vinapu]

So sun is shining again