Legendary Pattaya Go-Go Peppermint Dead; Korean Owner Stiffs Staff, Flees Thailand

Legendary Pattaya go-go bar Peppermint is dead.

Closed for the past two months for “renovation”, Peppermint’s South Korean owner has fled Thailand, salaries still unpaid to dancers; his Thai partner facing police charges and the bar itself taken over by a Filipino, who will reopen it before high season as “Wolf Club,” which will specialized in shows for tourists.

Peppermint (Was) a Walking Street Institution

The go-go bar, in its current form next to Insomnia at the southern end of Walking Street, was the Peppermint long-timers remember in name only. Its golden years ended when Peppermint Palace moved downstairs from its huge original space next to the (now demolished) Marine Disco to a smaller venue downstairs in 2010.

Peppermint Palace, along with the long-departed Happy a-Go-Go, became Pattaya’s most-popular go-go bars in the early 2000s when it opened at the the top of the escalator at the bustling Marine Plaza complex.

It quickly became a favorite among go-go bar regulars for its crazy low happy hour prices, huge number of girls, spacious interior.  A Stickman Bangkok reader in 2002 described the venue as “largely attitude-free,” attracting a loyal following of customers drawn to its relaxed, fun ambience.

As Pattaya’s nightlife surged in the mid-2000s, Peppermint remained a standout. In a 2005 column, Stickman noted the venue was “packed,” its popularity buoyed by a shift toward catering to a broader Asian clientele, with dancers reportedly dying their hair blonde “to appease the Asian customers.”

Despite such changes, the bar’s performance stayed strong, with reports in 2006 stating it was “doing very well online,” a nod to its rising digital presence and word-of-mouth buzz.

Dave the Rave himself always extolled Peppermint in those days, noting in 2007 that it always has “a great lineup and always busy”.

Earlier, in December 2006, Dave had sat down with Harry, one of the former partners in Peppermint, Happy and Beach Club, who Dave called one of the best bar owners he ever met.

“Here is a perfect example of how essential good management is,” Dave wrote. “Even considering the rollercoaster ride that the Pattaya go-go bars always experience… Peppermint is consistently very good and is a great choice to bar-fine a hot babe late in the evening.”

Peppermint Moves Downstairs…. and Downhill

By 2010, PP’s original location was vacated as part of a broader reshuffling within Marine Disco. Peppermint relocated the bar downstairs to the area surrounding the venue’s iconic boxing ring.

Although the new space retained much of the bar’s branding, longtime patrons remarked that the new incarnation never quite recaptured the energy of its upstairs heyday.

The struggles began then and the classic go-go even experimented with tired “stupid pussy tricks” shows for a while. It still had the good happy hour and the Happy-Peppermint-Beach Club-Baccara polish of professionalism, but it would continue to decline during the last decade until the Covid-19 pandemic did it in for good.

Peppermint Sold to Korean Boss

The final chapter began in September 2022 after the bar was sold to South Korean investors, leading to its relocation beside Insomnia at the southern end of Walking Street.

This version featured a sleek, modern design with white seating, two pink LED-lit podiums that could hold up to eight dancers each, and upgraded lighting that leaned into a club-style aesthetic. While it carried the Peppermint name, longtime visitors often remarked that the new venue lacked the atmosphere and charm of its earlier incarnation above Marine Disco.

Under its new ownership, new management introduced promotions aimed at drawing in early-evening traffic. A happy hour deal saw draft beer and standard drinks priced at just 95 baht until 9:30 p.m., clearly targeting those warming up for a night at Insomnia next door.

Marketing and signage in both English and Korean reflected a shift in the customer base, catering to a growing number of South Korean tourists frequenting Pattaya.

Despite the rebranding and renewed energy, the bar struggled to match its former glory. The venue’s smaller size and faster-paced rotation of dancers gave it a different feel, more aligned with modern clubgoer expectations than with the go-go traditions that made Peppermint famous. It was a bold attempt to reinvent a legend but, for many, it remained a nostalgic echo rather than a full revival.

Korean Stiffs Staff, Flees Thailand

Peppermint closed in April for “renovation” – the sign still hangs on the door – with rumors that a new Filipino partner had bought into the bar and was funding a refit.

In fact, according to interviews Thursday with former Peppermint staff, the South Korean man closed the bar without paying the last month’s salaries and fled the country. Staffers pleaded for weeks to the foreigner’s Thai partner to make good on the debts, but when that failed, a group of former employees file charges at Pattaya police station this month.

Meanwhile, the bar itself was sold off, or taken over, by the unnamed Filipino, who is not on the hook for past-due wages.

The Peppermint brand is now dead. The bar will be renamed Wolf Club and reopen in about two months as a showbar. What kind of shows – classy Angelwitch/Spanky’s style performances or raunchy ping pong shows – remains to be seen. Let’s hope it’s the former.

And so ends the story of Peppermint — a name that once lit up Walking Street with energy, fun and wall-to-wall crowds.

From its golden age at the top of the Marine Disco escalator to its final flicker beside Insomnia, it was more than just a bar. It was a landmark of Pattaya nightlife, a place where memories were made and reputations built.

Its collapse, marked by unpaid wages and a vanished owner, is a sad and undignified exit for what was once one of Thailand’s great go-go institutions.