Boyztown and Sunee Plaza

[gerefan2]

I cannot help but compare BT nowadays and Sunee Plaza nowadays.

For the last 10 years there has been a steady decline in business in Sunne that has been well documented. I think it might be fair to say that this decline has steadied in the last year or two with the current bars surviving.

Interestingly, I surveyed BT the other night at 1230 and come to a similar conclusion. Walking down from Toyboys one passes the extinct Funny Boys, Oscars, Panorama (allegedly being refurbished) and a closed BBB. Their alternative Boys Music (not really gay at all) being open. That’s a lot of gay bars to be closed temporarily or permanently in one very short Soi.

Crossing over to the next Soi I passed the following closed bars, Vassa, Wild West Boys, Lucky 7, Kawaii Boys, Dynamite,Happy Place and Amor Restaurant. I’m sure I have missed some.

All these bars seem to have closed in a similar timescale to the closed bars in Sunee.

Don’t get me wrong I do like BT and visited Boys Music which has come in for some comment recently. Yes it was full and it was full of young Asian girls and couples. No gays, apart form the 3 of us. Prices have risen with all the “loss leader” cheap offers having gone E.g the 12 bottles of beer for 1500 baht. Great for a group and worked out at 125 baht per bottle. Not now...all bottles 250 each.

You can easily see the same business model as BBB... not aimed at the Gay community at all.

No wonder everyone is off to Jomtien!

[BOY69]

Yes it's very sad situation.
I always went to BT or Sunee and never bother to look at Jomtien complex, For the upcoming visit in a few months I will stay probably at the Agate or Zing and will look for boys there.
How is the business model of the bars at Jomtien complex ?Are all the boys offebale there ? Are the boys there attractive and deliver good service ? Are they willing to do long term as well ? Are the prices there competitive compare to BT ? Can I have recommendions for the good bars there ?

[newalaan2]

I cannot help but compare BT nowadays and Sunee Plaza nowadays. Don’t get me wrong I do like BT and visited Boys Music which has come in for some comment recently. Yes it was full and it was full of young Asian girls and couples. No gays, apart form the 3 of us. You can easily see the same business model as BBB... not aimed at the Gay community at all. No wonder everyone is off to Jomtien!

It's been a very long time since the bulk of the Pattayaland Bars have been truly aimed at gay customers, and who can blame them with the decline in gay farang/western customers. BBB, Toy Boys, X-Boys, A-Bomb have always had female customers either equally or foremost as their main target, being 'Boy' Bars rather than 'Gay' Bars. Out of the current bunch only Cupidol is really gay-centric, even Dreamboys now have a number of straight boys who 'perk up' when any females enter the premises.

Over the years on visits to Pattaya we would normally split our evening time fairly equally between Sunee and BT. But on my last recent trip in May this year I could count the visits to BT on one hand. I did manage to get round all the 'boy/gay' bars still open including Panorama at least once...…..but my pre-late night club and Walking St visits were mostly spent in Sunee. At the start of my trip I stayed at East-suites in Jomtien and spent all evenings within the Jomtien Complex bars, and thoroughly enjoyed my time there. That is the difference for me between Sunee and BT, I still regard Sunee as a predominately 'gay' area as I do Jomtien Complex.

So I agree with much of what you say. When I did visit Boys Music, like you, we did certainly enjoy ourselves but that was more down to the company I was with and the fact we know so many of the BzBzBz staff but regarding the clientele, really we could have been in Hollywood or any other Pattaya club. That's why now we are just as comfortable in any of the Walking St bars/clubs are we are in NAB, as many of the gay Thai lads are too, such is the change.

[gerefan2]

Boy69
I can answer some of your questions but I only visit Jomtien occasionally. I am going to change that this visit!
The business model is outdoor bars, like Oscars used to be. No gogo allowed. All boys are off-able.

Prices...well you will be shocked...75 or 80 baht per drink compared with 200-250 in BT gogo bars!

Only done one off from Jomtien and was happy, so cannot really comment, apart from that.

The most popular bars are at the bottom end of the street. I goes down a hill. Look for Sun Bar and the surrounding bars.

[Manforallseasons]

I totally agree with gerefan2's assesment. If you don't like Jomtien complex or the general type of boy that works their (which I don't) there are slim pickens.

[Brad the Impala]

BBB, Toy Boys, X-Boys, A-Bomb have always had female customers either equally or foremost as their main target, being 'Boy' Bars rather than 'Gay' Bars.
.

I'm less sure about the others, but certainly BBB was opened with the gay audience as it's first and principal target, and successfully continued in that way for many years.

[frequent]

I totally agree with gerefan2's assesment. If you don't like Jomtien complex or the general type of boy that works their (which I don't) there are slim pickens.I was rather under the impression that the Jomtien boys are slim (pickens)

[newalaan2]

I'm less sure about the others, but certainly BBB was opened with the gay audience as it's first and principal target, and successfully continued in that way for many years.

Sorry, wasn't making myself clear. I should have said 'for quite a while now' rather than 'always'. I think when I first started visiting in 2000 virtually all bars around BT were aimed at gay clientele, but since the turndown in the fortunes of many western gay visitors post 2008 certain of the main BT bigger players changed their operations to accommodate a 'wider range' of clients. That's what I meant by 'it's been a very long time' since the bulk of the bars have been aimed purely at gay clientele. Whereas Sunee and Jomtien always were and remain gay orientated.

Back when I first started visiting Pattaya, the bars I specifically mentioned......Toy Boys, even A-Bomb along with BBB were definitely gay-oriented, X-Boys didn't exist in Pattaya at that time.

[arsenal]

Boy69 wrote.
"Are all the boys offebale there ? Are the boys there attractive and deliver good service ? Are they willing to do long term as well ?"

No one can answer those questions except the boy himself. I would suggest that in Jomtien, a Cambodian boy with little or no English will quite likely lead to a disappointing off. However I disagree with MFAS assessment of "slim pickens." There are plenty of his/my (straight) type there but most are freelance and so they come and go.

Newalaan is right about the straight boys in BT who "perk up" as soon as a female customer walks in. But, I can only recall one boy (BBB of course) who didn't go with men. That's not to say that all will do everything you might want but most will kiss and smoke provided you agree beforehand and let him know how much you'll pay him.

[Smiles]

" ... At the start of my trip I stayed at East-suites in Jomtien and spent all evenings within the Jomtien Complex bars, and thoroughly enjoyed my time there ... " . . . and wasted your time learning ~~ from professionals ~~ how to play snooker.
Next time ...

[Oliver2]

There has often been discussion as to why the gay areas in Pattaya have declined. Here's one idea that I don't think has been raised on this forum before.
I am one of the 90s generation....falangs who experienced a vibrant Pattaya scene and fell in love with it. At the age of seventy-two, I count myself lucky- I am one of the survivors, aiming to grow older more disgracefully.

I am not alone in one respect and it is one that is sometimes forgotten.

Look at the today's gay Thai/falang couples in Thailand; one thing has changed since the 90s. More of them are of an older falang (nothing new there) accompanied by a Thai who is in his 30s or 40s rather than 20s. No longer "offs" intent on making a1000bht for an hour's work but partners. Friends. In some cases, even married. Perhaps , one day long ago, the Thais were go- go dancers looking for that fortunate falang. Some found their man and are now in some sort of long term relationship. In my case, it's one of fifteen years.

We don't go to go go bars but spend our money in restaurants and we don't restrict ourselves to gay hot-spots, such as they are. Krabi, Chiang Rai, Luang Prabang have been our three recent destinations. Usually, we are "the only gays in the village"....but nobody seems to mind. I suppose that people like me are some of the "lost" gogo bar punters and the ones partly responsible for the changes.

[AsDaRa]

I know why the boys think Sunee is in decline. Well one boy, so not a very good sample

He said farang not like Arabs. Many Arabs in Sunee on motorbike. Making lot of noise. That why they not go Sunee.

Not sure how wide spread this view is among the boys.

[frequent]

I know why the boys think Sunee is in decline. Well one boy, so not a very good sample. He said farang not like Arabs. Many Arabs in Sunee on motorbike. Making lot of noise. That why they not go Sunee. Not sure how wide spread this view is among the boys.That could be bad news for one of our members who could easily be mistaken for an Arab