when I came here I looked at opening a more up market/concept type bar and spotted a few glaring problems....
1) The nature of property in HH means most bar properties in the hub are old fishermans houses that have been converted....small and compact. This means to open a decent sized place (by UK city centre standards) you would need to get three or so bars and knock em into one big one.....too expensive to be viable for a smaller investor.
I love the way China White in the karaoke bar area is set out....good decor and layout. They do good food too. A bigger version in the hub would be cool but just isnt viable when costs are set in....
Actually I like the small bar thing....variety is the spice of life and all that. Makes pub crawls more fun!
2) The idea of a good club/bar would be a winner here as there is, as you say, sod all choice. However, the HHBC seem to have a strangle hold and from gossip also seem able to stymie such competitive developments....so again a no go. Give it a few years and some rich bright spark from BKK may set one up in time....
Let anyone who cares to say you run a "tourist trap"....that is just common business sense as it seems to me that, in general, the ones who drink in the hub bars are farang tourists, whereas the Thai / BKK tourists prefer to buy bottles and have family parties on the beach or in local smaller karaoke bars (like the one near me). Horses for courses.
Id say what we are missing is a number of larger Thai roadhouse places where there are live bands....the Luk Nam is the only big one i know of. I love em....theres a great one near the Garden Hotel in Roi Et that I always go in when up there....excellent in house band, Issan Karaoke singing girls, always a party night in there and the locals are excellent fun.
In terms of bar toilets....as long as it isn't blocked/covered in puke Im happy....after a week of so my nose turns Thai and I dont smell the sewers as much.....apart from high tide
