The Cafe Royale show bar closed tonight with signs on the windows ...only in Thai... wtf?
Some say closed until January. Cannot confirm.
Hotel appears open.
The Cafe Royale show bar closed tonight with signs on the windows ...only in Thai... wtf?
Some say closed until January. Cannot confirm.
Hotel appears open.
Tonight (Wed) is the third consecutive night that it has been closed.
..........and that's the way it is.
All gone to Jomtien as previously suspected??
This is not a good sign for Boyztown. I hope someone can make a go of this place. It's a prime location so perhaps the rent was extortionate.
I'm not a fan of the show bar (or any bar that doesn't have doors) but it would be very sad if Cafe Royal closed. I have happy memories of it in the late 90s when the staff wore pink shirts and white shorts....some were very cute. After many changes (and bereavements), it seemed to be doing OK a few years ago when the guy who used to run Oscar's (David) was manager.
I agree with arsenal; Boyztown needs the totemic venues like Cafe Royal to survive. I wonder if the hotel rooms were too affected by noise from below to be popular? A couple of years back, I looked at its rooms to assist a friend planning his stay. They had improved enormously since when I stayed there. The prices were acceptable, too.
You'd never know what's going on there as ever time I / my friends talk to David ? the owner ( byw you DO mean the Thai guy with big muscles there do you ? as I wasn't aware his name was david but of course that means nothing Pattaya ?) but every time I /my mate talk with him we get different stories about either him owning the bar or at least being the front facing owner of the bar for his farang business partner - or something else depending what day it is.
We then tend to get a different story / sob story about how he's either doing really well or has "lost everything", or how he was scammed out of the bar by another Thai ( the REAL bar owner ?) who basically foreclosed on him RENTING not owning the bar ? as his farang business partner had stopped paying him and / or had screwed him over in some another huge business deal and that he's either a millionaire or broke - mind you he lives in a nice apartment and drives a nice car and isn't short of a baht or two it seems still !
So either that or that he's giving all that bar up and opening a new bar for himself in Jomtien "shortly" and getting out of boystown altogether - so perhaps the latter has finally come true at last ?
Either way there's nothing every straight forward in the stories you hear from him and on a personal level once you've "been" with him if you then move on ( as you do) you get bombarded with " I seen you in boystown and you not come to my bar, I KNOW you dont like me and not want to meet me" messages trying to guilt trip you into either going to the bar or for another meet - and that's not just to me, he has played the same "game" with my friend also separately to me, not knowing we're both aware of the messages he sends to each of us.
Personally I'm at the stage now of either just ignoring him completely or when we meet face to face ( now when I'm with my friend and he's twigged the two of us ARE friends) that I simply nod and dont disagree with him re the not liking thing as he's got a point there as I I can't be doing with all that needy guilt trip game playing he TRIES to do so well, it maybe works on other farang ( such as my mate who DOES fall for it and replies every time !) but definitely not on me.
I believe Oliver is referring to (English) David K - one half of the Dolly Sisters - who has run a few bars in Sunee and BT, most notably Oscars. He is currently managing Panorama I think. You undoubtedly know him, NIrish.
I think LCR was a bit of a poisoned chalice even by the time David took it on - much of the problem being the rooms were about 30-40 years out of date and as you'll remember some were even sold off or rented off or whatever the deal was, to Copa.
Not that he was in charge of the accomodation side of the business as the American guy ran that (and that was another problem I think - having 2 different managers), but if the accommodation is right it brings customers into the restaurant and bar.
I think David was left to flog a bit of a dying horse, which is a bit of a pity because I have a lot of time for him - he's a really nice guy.
As to what happened after that, what with the buy out and the re-naming etc I'm not so familiar as I lost interest when they substantially closed the restaurant. After a night out in BT we always used to end up in the restaurant for a late night meal with whichever lads we had picked up on our travels.
Fond memories also of entertainment from Toi and El Duo - but then I've never been in Thailand as you know so I'm probably making it all up!
Ahh ok - sorry to be clear then I'm talking about the body builder Thai guy who (claims/ claimed ) to be the owner / manager of both Oscars and then LCR too ( I presume when the Oscars management took it over)
OK I didn't know Oscars had changed hands from the Aussie guy who was still there the last time I was in - he did say to me he had a potential buyer but not who it was. Also didn't realise that that buyer then went on to buy/rent LCR
Ahh yes I do know David, nice guy as you say BUT many years ago he / the hotel tried to stiff me on a hotel phone bill. To be fair I HAD used the phone to place quite a few business calls but hadn’t checked their ( ridiculous) in room call costs so when the bill came it was something daft like 5000 or something for ten per minute billed calls ( or something like that - long time ago now). So I went down and discussed it with him to say look I don’t mind over paying but you’re taking the piss at those rates so let’s do a deal and move on - but no, please pay every baht was the answer, so I paid in full but pointing out that I’d never stay again and I never have.
Meanwhile re the bars and ownerships etc I am of course only repeating what I was told by that Thai “owner” ( manager / front man) and what I had witnessed with my own eyes re him starting / managing one bar ( the first oscars) and then his moving across all three bars with some of his staff and dancers etc (mainly) following - as to whether it’s all true as to who owns or owned what I have NO idea of course as TIT so I’m sure most farang, myself included, I / we would be the last people to know the actual truth and facts behind Thai bar ownership / licensing / rental agreements anyway.
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