Dok Pub Rising on Site of Failed Cosmos, King’s Corner 2 in Patpong (Photos)

The mystery is solved: Patpong’s former Cosmos bar and Kings Corner 2 go-go are being combined into the Dok Pub from the owner of neighboring Virgin club.

Questions began arising last month when Stickman Bangkok on Jan. 14 published photos of the large buildings on Patpong Soi 2 being boarded up. This past week, the usual blue-and-white vinyl tarp went up and builders went to work gutting the former hostess/freelancer bar and ladyboy go-go.

Cosmos, in operation for more than 25 years before it closed in May 2020, was a popular spot with expats, called an oasis amid the chaos of go-go bars, although it offered both take-away hostesses and, for a while, freelancers, along with cool air conditioning and cheap draft beer.

Owned by K. Vinai – who is the managing partner in the Virgin go-go next door as well as Geisha in Nana Plaza (and minority partner in other Nana go-gos) – Cosmos closed for good during the pandemic with Vinai opening the small, open-air Vinai’s Bar opposite and next to Foodland. Locals said that while it was still a friendly place, it lacked the vibe and atmosphere of Cosmos.

Dok Pub Rises

The 160-sq.-meter King’s Corner 2 and King’s Garden outdoor bar complex had been on the market recently for 240,000 baht a month rent on a one-year contract. It has now been combined with Cosmos under one owner and will become Dok Pub, a very large operation set to compete with Shenanigan’s at the Surawong Road end of Patpong Soi 1.

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With a name like Dok Pub, and with Vinai as the owner, it’s almost a sure bet it will be a Thai-style pub with Thai bands playing Thai live music and English covers. That begs the question of who will go?

Thais do go, in large numbers, to Shenanigan’s. Sitting on that patio is no loss of face for self-respecting Thais. But will they wander up past the aggressive touts of Soi 2’s gay bars and plop themselves into Dok Pub next to a go-go bar? Seems unlikely.

It’s all speculation at this point, but Dok Pub may operate the same as the Hillary pubs on Soi 4, 11 and 13, all of which have a distinctly Thai feel – with showcase bands many farangs have never heard of or care about – but a good stable of working-girl hostesses.

If so, then Dok Pub would, indeed, be a respite from go-go bars like Virgin, which plays car-alarm sounds masquerading as music as deafening volume.

Photos from just a few days apart show that workers are making quick work of gutting the two bars, making a Songkran-ish opening of Dok Pub possible.