Legendary Marine Disco Closes as Pattaya’s Bar Industry Convulses

Marine Disco Closes – end of an era
The escalator to the iconic Marine Disco is blocked off and the club closed. Is this really the end?

Amid the Songkran water wars, Pattaya’s bar industry continues to expand and contract, as the legendary Marine Disco closes, among other casualties.

Russians are, of course, back in Pattaya and big numbers and there are clubs to service them, or Thais (and Arabs) wanting to try some Russian fare. Monro OK, a Russian girls club, opened this week in the spot that was the Airport Club before.

At the same time, Crazy Russian Girls, in a much-worse location at the far southern end of Walking Street, closed at the end of March and remains dark. The old Airport is smack in the middle of the heart of Walking Street, so it should do much better.

A few doors down, High Times, a hybrid ladyboy go-go/pot dispensary already has closed. Bongs on the table and under the dresses apparently isn’t an appealing mix.

On Soi 6, the Quicky Bar was gone quickly, but has been replaced with Showgirls, no relation to the Soi Buakhao go-go of the same name.

Marine Disco Closes

The most significant closure, however, appears to the final demise of the legendary Marine Disco. The last post on its Facebook page – dated July 2022 – showed an empty club with one poor soul at a table. Apparently business had not improved as the dated-looking club couldn’t compete with flashy new clubs like Republic.

Marine Disco closes? It was definitely the oldest nightclub in Pattaya. According to legend, Marine was already open in a different location when the Vietnam War started and American marines came to Pattaya for R&R.

Legend aside, it certainly had been there for more than 30 years. Over the years, Marine was renovated several times and drew tourists and girls, both on the make. Among sex workers and whoremongers, Marine Disco was known as the “chicken farm”.

The venue was huge, maybe too much so. Owners put in pool tables to make up for the lack of dance crowds. There also was a big stage for live bands, but they didn’t play every day.

Marine Disco closes and so does another club: The Bollywood indian disco at the old Soho Square also is dead.

Finally, the marijuana business continues to boom, with chain Blow opening up on Walking Street and Green Shop opening in a former grocery store on Central Road Soi 12.