For Bangkok and Pattaya go-go bars, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, but her high-season tune definitely has been off-key.
High seasons tend to follow a pattern for go-go bars. The start is either mid-October (based on hotel prices) or Nov. 1 (based on bar traffic). Things build until the second week in December, when things dip. The weekend before Christmas high season hits hardest for go-go bars and lasts until the weekend after New Year’s Day. Then things dip again until Chinese New Year.
That’s where things are at now for go-go bars. Bangkok bar owners and managers agree that, while it’s not been bad, high season has not been great. There have been bonkers weeks and nights spread out, but also a fair share of surprisingly dead nights.
In Pattaya, the moaning is even louder, with go-go bars Jisoo going out of business and Soi LK’s Eve Club going dark, some managers saying it’s the worst high season they can remember.
The books look to look a lot worse with elections forcing the closure of bars Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, both Saturday nights.
Vicky’s Secret No Secret Anymore
One of the go-go bars having a great high season is Vicky’s Secret on Soi Cowboy. Vicky’s this month is doing happy hour prices all night – think 100-baht local beers and house spirits – and parties every week.
Asked if the all-night happy hour was started because the business was struggling, Vicky’s English bossman said “no, just the opposite. It’s doing great.”
So why cut margins by making drinks so cheap? He explained that while they are sacrificing margins with the customer drinks, they found that, when the beers are cheap, customers buy a lot more lady drinks than normal. And that’s where the profit margins are.
There also have been weekly theme parties on Saturday nights that have boosted trade. Unfortunately, due to the elections, no parties for the next two Saturdays.
Spanky’s 18th Anniversary Coming Up
Speaking of go-go bars parties, mark your calendar for Feb. 11 when Spanky’s in Nana Plaza celebrates its 19th birthday. But it also could be considered the 23rd anniversary. The Spanky’s anniversary year has always been a moving target. It’s worth a read to learn why.
There won’t be any pizzas, pageants or drink specials. Spanky’s is a party every day. When it’s an anniversary party, the vibe simply gets turned up from the normal 11 to 19. You won’t be the same after attending.
Nana Plaza’s Weed Shop Closes
Lucky Luke’s Tiki Joint – the former Lucky Luke’s Tiki Bar – closed this week at the entrance of Nana Plaza. Redlight Report is no fan of ganga, so no tears shed here, but the move was surprising given that Lucky Luke’s Joint was bought from the Stumble Inn Group by Nana’s landlord itself in September 2022 and turned into the plaza’s only marijuana shop.
Dave the Rave himself wrote the story, opining that “I can imagine this new-style bar doing a great trade given its location and the fact that it was always a popular chill-out bar”. But then Thailand’s soaring cannabis business came crashing down to earth due to shifting politics.
In mid-2025, Thailand implemented a strict regulatory overhaul reclassifying cannabis as a “controlled herb,” effectively banning recreational use. New Ministry of Public Health rules mandated that all sales occur through licensed medical facilities, requiring valid prescriptions and on-site professional oversight.
Consequently, the industry faced a massive bust: over 7,000 shops closed by late 2025 as license renewals plummeted. Only 15.5% of expiring permits were renewed, leaving approximately 11,136 operational businesses. Further contraction is expected, with nearly 10,000 additional licenses set to expire through 2027.
OG Canna, Lucky Luke’s operator, has not stated why it closed the Nana Plaza shop. The site reportedly has been taken over by the owner of several other bars in the Plaza and will be converted back into a beer bar, hopefully keeping the historic Lucky Luke’s name.
Abyss Pattaya Gets Sign, Manager
The next of Pattaya’s big go-go bars is Abyss, lit up its sign this week and got itself a farang manager, well-traveled bar host Danny Farside. A veteran of Windmill Club group, Farside until a few days ago was holding down the hosting duties at the Pinup Group’s Eden a-Go-Go. That lasted less than a month until he jumped ship to the under-renovation space that, most recently, was Okeanos.
More Go-Go Bars Managerial Moves
Back in Bangkok, a new, young manager has taken up late-night duties at Patpong’s Radio City. Andy from France works six nights a week 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and, when he’s not taking care of go-go bars, he’s a professional Muay Thai fighter, with a record of 27-13. He was a Radio City and Bada Bing customer and became friends with the French owner, who offered him the job, as the bars’ other longtime manager leaves around 10:30 p.m.
Crown Royal’s New Pricing
Also in The Pong, Crown Royal, a beer bar, has put up signs saying everything the bar is just 150 baht. Makes figuring out the bill easy, but is everything really 150? Corona? Patron? Maybe they renovated the bar to remove the top shelf? More investigation may be needed.
Las Vegas Pattaya Launches Livestream
Hard times at Pattaya’s Las Vegas Agogo Club? The Soi LK Metro chrome pole palace on Monday launched a YouTube channel to livestream girls dancing upstairs from the main stage to give the girls more chances to earn.
Las Vegas falsely claims it’s the first of Pattaya’s go-go bars to do livestreams. It’s not. Mr. Egg started doing livestreams from Rum Runner just down the road on Soi Buakhao in August.
Read the Dave Rave News story about it here.
Even Managers Get Scammed
Finally, a gob-smacking story about either the boulder-size stones – or utter stupidity – one bill-padding go-go bars service staff have. The bar, which won’t be named, has developed an unsavory reputation to padding bills. Ownership and management have both been as aggressive and humanly possible to stamp out the many, many complaints over the years, but it still occurs from time to time.
It’s not just a case of “when the cat’s away, the mice will play”. In fact, one night, the bar’s foreign manager, hosting a big group of friends and customers, and when it came time for him to total up his bin – which he writes off and the bar pays – he discovered a sizeable number of waitresses and service staff had helped themselves to his generosity, even though they never actually imbibed any drink.
Said manager wasn’t too flabbergasted to be furious. How ballsy – or dumb – do you have to be to pad the boss’s bin? Thailand never fails to amaze!
