Topman rip off ???

[Patexpat]

Being a poor worker I don't usually have that much free time to wander out, but tonight a friend and I thought we would visit Topman (Sunee Plaza) to see the new cabaret show and see what was what. On the table there is placed in plain view a menu card for drinks - soft drinks B1?0 (didn't pay much attention to the soft drink price!) standard drinks B140 and premium drinks B150. Having ordered a Breezer Manao was some what surprised to find I was charged B180 - and when queried the staff said it was the only drink priced at more than B150.

So gentlemen, I just wondered if the same trick had been pulled on any of you with another style of beverage!

By the way the show was dreadful, with an elderly falang (owner?) VERY badly lip-syncing love songs dedicated to his boyfriend. In fact it is so bad it's almost worth a look as you will appreciate the mediocre fair available else where in Pattaya/Jomtien!

This was my first visit to Sunee for a long long time ... and I certainly won't be rushing back to this particular venue!

I always go to the Krazy Dragon. I find it to be a fun place to go, the drink prices are good most drinks 110baht or draught chang 80baht. They have a show about 10:30

[Beachlover]

Being a poor worker I don't usually have that much free time to wander out, but tonight a friend and I thought we would visit Topman (Sunee Plaza) to see the new cabaret show and see what was what. On the table there is placed in plain view a menu card for drinks - soft drinks B1?0 (didn't pay much attention to the soft drink price!) standard drinks B140 and premium drinks B150. Having ordered a Breezer Manao was some what surprised to find I was charged B180 - and when queried the staff said it was the only drink priced at more than B150.

So gentlemen, I just wondered if the same trick had been pulled on any of you with another style of beverage!

By the way the show was dreadful, with an elderly falang (owner?) VERY badly lip-syncing love songs dedicated to his boyfriend. In fact it is so bad it's almost worth a look as you will appreciate the mediocre fair available else where in Pattaya/Jomtien!

This was my first visit to Sunee for a long long time ... and I certainly won't be rushing back to this particular venue!


Oh god, DO NOT go to Topman. It is terrible. The show is very very mediocre and the owner has almost no enthusiasm as the MC.

When the owner gets up and starts lip-syncing songs towards the end, he barely knows the words and it leaves everyone cringing in their seats. I left. It's no wonder they only had 4 customers when I was there.

[catawampuscat]

I have also heard numerous reports of the awful fat Frenchman who thinks he is an
entertainer and makes the customers cringe and want to flee. Those who enjoy
this type of entertainer seem to be the same who enjoy watching massive farangs
in full drag behaving like old ladies with heavy makeup and faces that would
give children nightmares for weeks. It must be a French thing but the Brits seem
to find this fun as well.. To each his own but thanks for the warning guys unless
you like this type of torture.. :cat:

I have never had a happy experience at Topman...it is indeed dreadful. Do they still allow smoking???

I. It must be a French thing but the Brits seem
to find this fun as well.. To each his own but thanks for the warning guys unless
you like this type of torture.. :cat:

this is the worst i`ve seen. cant beat a good drag queen.


p.s - he is not the owner. Lou Lou doesnt do drag lol

[Wesley]

maybe we need a poll on rate the bars before busy season begins

Wes

[Beachlover]

I have also heard numerous reports of the awful fat Frenchman who thinks he is an
entertainer and makes the customers cringe and want to flee. Those who enjoy
this type of entertainer seem to be the same who enjoy watching massive farangs
in full drag behaving like old ladies with heavy makeup and faces that would
give children nightmares for weeks. It must be a French thing but the Brits seem
to find this fun as well.. To each his own but thanks for the warning guys unless
you like this type of torture.. :cat:

He's French? His performance was so terrible I couldn't even tell what kind of accent he had. No enthusiam or skill at all...

I couldn't tell if he was dellusional and thought he was giving a good performance... or if he was well aware of how terrible it was and just trying to get through another difficult night.

And I couldn't tell if the show was normally supposed to be this bad or it was just bad that night because there were so few customers.

God only knows how he survives. There are about 8-9 performers needed to put on the show. I didn't see any gogo boys there... so if he's just earning from drinks he can't have been taking more than 3000baht the night I was there. Before 11:30pm the bar was completely empty and when the show came on, there were only 4 customers in the audience.

[Patexpat]

well excluding us two, there were 3 other people in the audience last night .... and at best the performance from the Falang could be described as 'overly self indulgent' .... or alternatively just plain cr*p!

[neddy3]

Over a number of years, I have enjoyed an ossasional visit to Topman. The go-go boys were pleasant to watch before the show, and the show was not real great, but an enjoyable diversion for an hour or so. Honest triers. The bar could be a good place to take a boy for a bit of entertainment.

Times have changed. The go-go boys are gone.
I took a friend there to see the advertised 10.00 show a few nights ago. We ordered Bacardi breezers (my friend likes them) at 180 B a shot. I admit I did not consult any price list. Seems a bit high in price to me.
At 10.00 we were the only 2 customers. The fat Frenchman was walking through the bar, in and out, SMOKING. No one else does.
At 10.07, no other customers, no sign of a show, my boy said he wanted to go, did not feel comfortable. We paid and left.

I won't be back any time soon. Sadly, I think the new ownership/management has stuffed the bar, and fear it won't last. Others may disagree, but this is how I see it.

[Beachlover]

Over a number of years, I have enjoyed an ossasional visit to Topman. The go-go boys were pleasant to watch before the show, and the show was not real great, but an enjoyable diversion for an hour or so. Honest triers. The bar could be a good place to take a boy for a bit of entertainment.

Times have changed. The go-go boys are gone.
I took a friend there to see the advertised 10.00 show a few nights ago. We ordered Bacardi breezers (my friend likes them) at 180 B a shot. I admit I did not consult any price list. Seems a bit high in price to me.
At 10.00 we were the only 2 customers. The fat Frenchman was walking through the bar, in and out, SMOKING. No one else does.
At 10.07, no other customers, no sign of a show, my boy said he wanted to go, did not feel comfortable. We paid and left.

I won't be back any time soon. Sadly, I think the new ownership/management has stuffed the bar, and fear it won't last. Others may disagree, but this is how I see it.

You have to pity the touts trying to get customers in... the product isn't working in their favour

[Beachlover]

well excluding us two, there were 3 other people in the audience last night .... and at best the performance from the Falang could be described as 'overly self indulgent' .... or alternatively just plain cr*p!

oh god... I thought the night I went, they were just having a bad night... or suffering the low season. But it sounds like that night isn't an exception!

It's a crime to run a business like that...

[thrillbill]

... sounds like to me the audience can make the "event" more fun by bringing in their left over vegetables out of the frig and throw them on stage once the act begins.

[jolyjacktar]

If the owner is walking about inside smoking then report him. After a few fines he'll stop

[TrongpaiExpat]

OK, we have established the show is bad. I agree. Is that dancer with the flabby stomach still performing? One of the back up dancer I found very cute but the poor boy had two left feet.

The original poster asked if he was being ripped off with the drink prices, was he?

I have only been there once and don't remember the drink prices. I do remember this Russian group having an argument with the waiter over the check bin total but did not catch the particulars. The disagreement went on and on through the whole show. His women oblivious to what ever was going on.

[jimnbkk]

I used to enjoy Topman, especially a couple of the boys who made my evenings delightful when I had them sit with me for an hour while we had a drink and giggled and talked. Lou Lou was pleasent, and always said hello. That was May. How times have changed. I've chatted with one of the boys since I left, and he's now one of the 'performers' in the cabaret show. I guess I need to recommend to him that he start looking for a new job.
I'm sad that Topman is gone. I could go in there without being 'tarred' with the pedo label.

Have all the gogo boys really gone? Whats there to go there for before the show?
Have the singers and dancers all gone? What about the really cute and sexy Lipsinger? Tom?
It wasnt all that bad last season....
Gerefan

and here....

I. It must be a French thing but the Brits seem
to find this fun as well.. To each his own but thanks for the warning guys unless
you like this type of torture.. :cat:

this is the worst i`ve seen. cant beat a good drag queen.


p.s - he is not the owner. Lou Lou doesnt do drag lol

There's a few old drag queens i'd like to beat......But they are not worth getting gaoled for :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

Sounds as if the previous owners were not so bad after all.
They all got stick from that ear-wig / LMTU fellow for nothing. The Go Go Boys were there, the shows must have been good because there were many customers. And the drinks were not so expensive.
Sorry to all those that miss the old Topman which was opened by Michael from the old Cockpit Bar in Pattaya Land.

[catawampuscat]

Boys passed out flyers tonite announcing Top Man will have a "Soiree Parisienne",Parisian Night on 1 September (Mon.) with shows at 10P and 11:30P.
One can only hope that the hefty farang announcer doesn't do the can can and show his
undies but my guess is it will be all that and MRS BUCKET will not be in attendence.

After all the comments here, I imagine you will not need a reservation but if any one
attends, perhaps they would be so kind as to comment here.. :cat:

[Beachlover]

Boys passed out flyers tonite announcing Top Man will have a "Soiree Parisienne",Parisian Night on 1 September (Mon.) with shows at 10P and 11:30P.
One can only hope that the hefty farang announcer doesn't do the can can and show his
undies but my guess is it will be all that and MRS BUCKET will not be in attendence.

After all the comments here, I imagine you will not need a reservation but if any one
attends, perhaps they would be so kind as to comment here.. :cat:

Sounds like a dying gasp...

As the originator and former owner of Topman I have always maintained an interest in its continued existence as a gay place of entertainment in the Sunee Plaza area and read with interest the various postings made by members of this forum.
As many members are aware, the new bar was opened in July 1999 after the closure of the highly Cockpit Bar is BoyzTown in 1998. The reasons for the new bar were, I must confess, ecconomic and boredom doing nothing after 13 years at Cockpit.
My then partners and myself planned what we though was a comfortable, friendly and relaxing bar, well decorated, clean and with reasonably priced drinks considering the area. It was not planned as a Cabaret bar initially, but by Christmas 1999 it seemed obvious that the festivities required additional entertainment other than the usual go-go boys. Fortunately, we were able to contract a month;s show with Madam LuLu who formnerly ran Bodyguard Cabaret in Pattayaland Soi 2 and her staff performed nightly for the Christmas period. Many of the old Cockpit cabaret staff wanted to come back to work and gradually the old Bodyguard troupe found other employment, more Cockpit staff arrived and we were able to obtain some new cast members.
We never claimed to be the "best show in Town" - woe to anyone who claims that title - but we did provide a nightly one-hour show of much varying quality not always first class we have to admit, and did our best to entertain our guests to the best of our ability.
The bar always suffered from the reputation of Sunee Plaza ands had the location of the bar not been on the corner of Soi VC we would never have opened there. But Topman was always run properly, with proper licences and did not, under our management, employ underage staff. The manager in particular, Khun Peow (the old manager from Cockpit who worked with us for over 10 years) was insistent that only over 18 year old were engaged and because his name was on the licences we followed him in this. He also was most particular that none of the boys were drug takers or pushers and in this we believe he was mostly successful; however, you can only control staff when they are on your premisses.
For various reasons, the original three partners agreed to split quite early in 2000 and the bar was continued by myself until for health and personal reasons I found it expedient to return to the UKand sold my interest in the bar to new owners in June 2006.
Since that time there have been a variety of new owners whose ideas about how to run a successful bar have been quite different from my own. I cannot criticise this as their business is not mine. But I think members will allow me, for the sake of a record of the history of Gay Pattaya, to voice my sincere regrets at what has happened to the bar since 2006. During the many times I have revisited the bar on my several returns to Pattaya on holiday, I have always made a point of visiting the bar and giving it some of my business on several evenings. From my point of view, during the past two years Topman has progressively declined as an enjoyable venue for the gay tourist, one worth visiting more than one time. The cabaret show is an extremely tired old lady; the numbers are the same as those performed at Cockpit twenty years ago
with few additions. Some of the performers, although they are very dear to me as former long term employees for whom I have a special affection, have lost the sparkle they used to have as dancers, and although they try their best there is no one in management now who cares either about them or their performance on the stage. It saddens me to see how customers have deserted the bar in droves, how the present owner has raised his prices to compensate for loss of business, and how a vital element in a gay bar, namely the go-go boys, have disappeared. Topman is now a beer bar with a tired cabaret show, for the reason that the owner(s) can save on licences and salaries. That surely is no way to run a gay bar.
May I add that this posting - one of a rare response by me to any posting - is meant as a statement of facts following GayPattayan's request for information about cabaret shows.
Pattaya in 2008 is a sad reflexion of the heydays of the mid 1990s when we all enjoyed the gay scene. There were many more customers - many of whom have passed on - prices were reasonable, and the bar owners in most areas were in the business not just for the money but also for the enjoyment and pleasure of being able to stay in Thailand and earn a reasonable living. It would seem from the present lowest season on record that Pattaya's original charm has gone, that there are few bars who even try to entertain - BoyzBoyzBoyz, Copa, Funny Boys, Krazy are among the few do - and with the new anti-smoking laws (which I support although I am a heavy smoker) customers have moved outside the bars on to the street bars which seem to be doing reasonably well.
I remain a fervent supporter of the Pattaya gay scene, Pattaya Gay Festival that does such good work, and Pattaya will always figure on my future holiday visiting list. But I will certainly think twice about other holiday venues as I am sure will many other board members. It is going to take many changes and rethinking to revitalise the Pattaya gay secene and get it back to the wonderful days of the 1980s and 90s. I hope it can be done, but at present every sign is that the water is running out of the bath and no one has turned the taps on fully and sought to put the plug back into the hole.
In tears at what was, what is now, and what might be in the future for gay Pattaya.

(Apologies for spelling errors: the spell-check refused to function).

[catawampuscat]

thanks for your posting and I trust all members of this forum will show you the
respect due you as one of the pioneers in the boy bar business in Pattaya..

A new wave hit Sunee Plaza in the last year or two and it was mostly composed
of French and German speakers. One Frenchman in particular took over many boy
bars and the results have been questionable.
This poster had major issues with the extreme heavy smoking of cigarettes and cigars in
his bars but also his proclivity towards lowering the average age of employees in Sunee
Plaza. Yes, it was possible to those doubters..
Kaos under its former manager/owner was one of my favorites boy bars in Sunee and while
not free of issues, was a blast most nites. Now know as Villa Rouge it has seen better days and is for sale after many month long police enforced closings.
Top Man was a fun boy go go bar which frankly was hit or miss, but after it was sold to the
same Frenchman or group of Frenchmen, it became an ashtray bar and lost its zing..
To the horror of most farangs, it is now home to an overpowering mega-diva with
zero talent and most are expecting it to be for sale yet again.
Minou Boy Bar, under the same Frenchman, had a ludicrous period of time as a ladyboy
go go bar which was very foolish and now it features very young kids..
Look Boys, just outside Sunee Plaza also was taken over by the same Frenchman and French group and again it became an ashtray bar and dropped the average age several years from
the previous boy bar Y2K (often called a morgue, by some)..

Unfortunately, one personality, one man did much to capitalize on the public
image of Sunee but his interest in very young and mostly feminine lads turned off many
and with the heavy non stop tobacco smoking, it was a recipe for disaster..

Much better results for the German speaking bar owners, althou the Bavarian Beer haus was
a disaster and best forgotten. I enjoyed the Clubbing/Clubber enterprises and was disappointed when the Yellow Boy Bar also called Clubbing closed to be eventually replaced with Jungle Boys which never got it right and now Legun 1 which is hit or miss..
Happy Boys, just outside Sunee has been a winner most of the time and is still quite popular among many. It was a gamble to open a boy bar in that location and it paid off..

I will leave out the many beer bars.. Again, it was refreshing to read the honest feelings
of Geneman and an insight from one of the legends of the Pattaya Boy Bar scene.. I arrived
after Cock Pit closed but have heard it was a hoot and regret never having seen it.. :cat:
P.S. My spell check hasn't been working either...

Perhaps people might like to face up to that sneaking suspicion that Pattaya's glory days are over (or, as Soi 10 Tom might say, "They will never return")?

Perhaps people might like to face up to that sneaking suspicion that Pattaya's glory days are over (or, as Soi 10 Tom might say, "They will never return")?

Sure you not like to face your glory day's are over Homi ! All in you is bitterness i might say. Let people enjoy Pattaya and have fun ! Put yourself on IGNORE before full dementation . :blackeye:

P.S. My spell check hasn't been working either...

Never mind cat, you will be pleased I hope with my assurance, as I have read each and every one of them, that all of your 347,000 references in this and other threads in regard to tobacco products and their accessories, have all been spelled by you without one single error. http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/whistling.gif

Be fair cat and give credit where credit is due. As this is my first reply to any of those 347,000 references, I would say I have been extremely tolerant up to this point, wouldn't you.

As I have now replied to one, let me leave this for you to peruse at your own leisure.

Choc Dee Cat, http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk216/ThaiRakThai/rasta.gif


George.


The Antismokers Are LYING To You !

They say the EPA found that smoke in a well-ventilated bar causes cancer. The reality is the EPA never even LOOKED at such low levels of exposure, but looked instead at very HIGH levels over periods of 40 years straight and STILL failed normal scientific significance standards!

They say studies show bans wonтАЩt hurt the bar/restaurant business.
The reality is those studies gave those results by ignoring noncompliance, overall economic growth, and restaurant degradation to fast food outlets.

They say тАЬtornado windsтАЭ are needed to ventilate non-smoking sections.
The reality is even mild air movement in a well designed bar moves smoke quite effectively to exhaust vents.

They say тАЬSmoking bans have reduced CaliforniaтАЩs cancer rate by 14% тАЭ
The reality is CaliforniaтАЩs total smoking bans began in 1998тАж having NO effect on cancer rates with a 20-year time lag. The REAL causes of the decrease are 1980s air pollution laws and a changing population base.

They say thereтАЩs тАЬa strong societal consensusтАЭ for total bans.
The reality is that such consensus only favors decently ventilated non-smoking areas: NOT total government mandated bans imposed on all.

They say non-smokers are being тАЬpoisonedтАЭ by smokers in bars.
The reality is that NO normal elements of tobacco smoke in a decent bar even approach EPA тАЬPermissible Exposure LimitsтАЭ of safety.

Why Are They Lying?
Because in 1975 the US and UN were advised that the best way to eliminate smoking was by тАЬfostering an atmosphere where it was perceived that smokers injure those around them, especially their family, infants, and young childrenтАЭ

George, I have to tell you that my older brother, an MD, agrees with you completely. He says that there is no weaker scientific evidence in the world than the stuff about "second-hand smoke." My brother, by the way, is a non-smoker.

Of course, the same brother holds some more unpopular opinions, such as the overt lying about HIV for decades. Study after study has shown that the royal road to HIV infection is anal intercourse and needle-sharing. Period. You will find the occasional case of a man infected orally while he had open wounds in his mouth -- but you will ALSO find men who lie about this, and prefer that story to admitting that they enjoy anal sex as a bottom.

Frankly, I think he's right about both. And my own suspicion is that the problem of Giant Farang began at exactly the same time as the Anti-Smoking Crusade. That is to say, just as one person to another, have you EVER known a person who gave up smoking and who did not gain visible weight? Sometimes VERY visible weight?

Well, when did Porker Farang start appearing? Wasn't it at just about that time?

Shoot, I may have to take up smoking again! :-) After all, it is my life!

[Beachlover]

George, I have to tell you that my older brother, an MD, agrees with you completely. He says that there is no weaker scientific evidence in the world than the stuff about "second-hand smoke." My brother, by the way, is a non-smoker.

Of course, the same brother holds some more unpopular opinions, such as the overt lying about HIV for decades. Study after study has shown that the royal road to HIV infection is anal intercourse and needle-sharing. Period. You will find the occasional case of a man infected orally while he had open wounds in his mouth -- but you will ALSO find men who lie about this, and prefer that story to admitting that they enjoy anal sex as a bottom.

Frankly, I think he's right about both. And my own suspicion is that the problem of Giant Farang began at exactly the same time as the Anti-Smoking Crusade. That is to say, just as one person to another, have you EVER known a person who gave up smoking and who did not gain visible weight? Sometimes VERY visible weight?

Well, when did Porker Farang start appearing? Wasn't it at just about that time?

Shoot, I may have to take up smoking again! :-) After all, it is my life!

That may be true... but try telling that to someone who's worked in a bar before smoking bans came into place.

That may be true... but try telling that to someone who's worked in a bar before smoking bans came into place.The worst thing about smoking (for a non-smoker) is the awful body odour that the smoker gets.

[neddy3]

Well said, geneman.

[thrillbill]

I am not a smoker (thank goodness) but anyone who is for smoking in public buildings, restaurants, or bars can pick up propaganda to support why second hand smoking IS NOT harmful to ones health. All I know is since the bars (some) in BKK and Pattaya have followed the no smoking laws, I can breathe easier in these bars since they're not full of cigarette smoke...the waiters and bartenders that I have talked to are happy about it, and it is great to not have cigarette smoke on ones clothes when they return home at night. I'll go by my own experiences, not by some bias report.

I'll go by my own experiences, not by some bias report.Perhaps you might find this rebuttal useful - http://kalimna.blogspot.com/2006/11/pas ... -harm.html (http://kalimna.blogspot.com/2006/11/passive-smoking-causes-harm.html)

I am not a smoker (thank goodness) but anyone who is for smoking in public buildings, restaurants, or bars can pick up propaganda to support why second hand smoking IS NOT harmful to ones health. All I know is since the bars (some) in BKK and Pattaya have followed the no smoking laws, I can breathe easier in these bars since they're not full of cigarette smoke...the waiters and bartenders that I have talked to are happy about it, and it is great to not have cigarette smoke on ones clothes when they return home at night. I'll go by my own experiences, not by some bias report.

We only have to remember the recent death of a member of the board, Wowpow, to see that passive smoking can kill. Speaking to him before I recall he was sure of the fact that during his work in the UK he was exposed to a lot of passive smokingand he blamed this for his condition.
And I agree that a smoker does not only give anyone in close proximity the fumes from their cigarettes but after they have finished a smoker carries the odour of burnt tobacco etc with them for a long time. Smoking a cigarette is not the end of the problem. Bad breath and odour on their clothes for ages.
Many smokers do not consider other people and they insist on smoking and speading the smell everywhere even when an objection is made.

[Daniel-old]

We only have to remember the recent death of a member of the board, Wowpow, to see that passive smoking can kill.

Whilst Wowpow complained that passive smoking aggravated his Emphysema, he put his ill health down to the fact that he had been a heavy smoker for 34 years.

We only have to remember the recent death of a member of the board, Wowpow, to see that passive smoking can kill.

Whilst Wowpow complained that passive smoking aggravated his Emphysema, he put his ill health down to the fact that he had been a heavy smoker for 34 years.

Thanks for that clarification Daniel. I wonder how much the passive smoking added to the situation. I know he deplored it.

[thrillbill]

...And I must say that 90% of smokers* I run into are conscious where they smoke and make an effort to not smoke in closed quarters.
*Westerners except Russians

[quote="Henry Cate"]have you EVER known a person who gave up smoking and who did not gain visible weight? Sometimes VERY visible weight?quote]

Yes. Myself, for one.