Sukhumvit Soi 7; the demolition
Many visitors to Bangkok will know Soi 7 from the past because of the many restaurants or a more than well-known bar: the Beergarden.
Directly in front of the latter establishment was also a very narrow street where you could listen to live music every evening. That small street has more or less disappeared for quite some time because all businesses have closed down.
The restaurants on the right side of soi 7 also had to die and this also applies to the bars and restaurants on the left side of the street.
Many will wonder how all this is possible and what is about to happen. Just very simply listen to a song by Leen Jongewaard from 1967: 't is the fault of capital. Thailand, together with Russia and India, leads the global list of countries where the gap between rich and poor is the greatest.
Thailand has a number of residents who have a lot to do financially, such as the owner of almost all of Soi 7.
So far it seemed that the Beergarden would escape the dance, but nothing could be further from the truth, because this well-known venue will also serve its last drink on the last day of this month (28-2-2017).
The extremely wealthy Thai owner has not renewed the lease and is said to be renovating the entire street.
When he uses the word "to demolish", he will mean "renovate". Many a lady who wanted to hook up a farang in the Beergarden to break through the poverty line will have heard it with mixed feelings
What the new soi 7 will look like in the future remains to be seen.
High-rise apartment buildings that bring in a lot of money. On the ground floor will be some restaurants and
entertainment come. Shame about the NEW WAVE BAR. that was a really nice bar.
Soi 7 is expensive land where capital can be earned, so indeed high-rise. That is the well-known pattern in Thailand, see for example what was once soi 0 and the bars around soi Cowboy in Bangkok. The same applies to Pattaya, where a lot of "old junk" is flattened and replaced by high-rise buildings.
I often found that old junk cozy and affordable.
Will go get another farewell drink.
Spent many free Friday afternoons there and so many fellow Dutchmen.
Not much is left of our large group either.
Some have died of alcohol and others have gone bankrupt back to their homeland.
If you go to the pub every day in Thailand, things will go wrong for you.
There you have to. arm yourself against it, and stand strong in your shoes.
The Beergarden was one of the cheaper pubs, no lady drinks and such.
So we have to look for a new “Meeting Point” again
“The destruction” or “The progress”.
The old generation will think: Too bad, it used to be so nice.
The new generation will think: What beautiful new accommodations and shops in such a nice place.
I promised myself a long time ago not to romanticize the past too much and not to have too high expectations of the future.
'Yes, but before…' and 'Wait until….' I don't buy anything for that.
Especially in big cities in Thailand, things can change a lot and quickly, take it as it is and enjoy how it is, keeping an eye out for the changes, and a melancholy farewell drink or festive opening party is of course never out of the question.
According to several women, the beer garden is being renovated and 2 floors will be added, which I find hard to believe, but we'll see.
It's only gotten worse in the last year.
Partly because it is actually the only place that is still open in soi 7.
The owner of the land (the hotel next door) had already indicated to look for another location. (after the rent had already been drastically increased)
Since the current owner (chinese) is dead and his wife the cow, it has become an unfinished business.
You can count the days that it is still full.
She no longer felt like investing in Website and social media again.
So now the contract is dissolved.
Sad for the staff who have been there for years.
Some are now coming to work for me (more like a favor to friends)
May want to give my restaurant the same approach.
(So without lady drinks)
Down then Bar
1st floor partie-center and on the rooftop for what's to come (bar with restaurant)
Will definitely come several more times, before the door closes.
A few pieces away, doesn't a whole piece go into the waste container? Near cheap charlie? But maybe I didn't understand it all because the music was quite loud and soi 7 is meant and not the neighboring streets. When I arrive in Bangkok I always have to take a good look at what has changed in a year's time. In other parts of the city, things are also leveling off and progress is visible. Hopefully the hotels in the area will have soundproof windows when the Thai Bob the Builder gets to work. I personally think that beer consumption has dropped considerably in Bangkok over the past 10 years. I now often see wine or hip coffee mentioned first on the drink cards.
Soi 11 will also suffer the same fate. A whole piece of street after the nice garden restaurant Zansibar will be demolished from Cheap Charly. The exhaust service of an affected massage parlor said to Songkran, then it ends here.
Walking service, read: manageress
I once walked three steps in after New Wave closed, and was shocked by the number of senior citizens. Both male and female by the way…
This smashing of small-scale bars and cozy places follows the same pattern as Washington square, where they knocked down that idiotic Dinosaur Park…
That passage will always be there. My father lived in Bangkok for three years in the 2015s and after a brief visit in XNUMX, he was shocked at how the city had been turned upside down.
So be it. The inner city is slowly moving to the outer rings, and SMEs are moving along.
new wave is now located in soi 7/1, where bangkok beat used to be.