thegame925 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Extracts from a series of emails: Tuesday, 22 May 2012 From Ladyboy who works at Cascade: nana plaza will close in one or two month it make me more feel bad. Tuesday, 22 May 2012 From Rxpharm: There have been reports in Stickman that the leases have not been renewed for the NEP bars. Mardhi has speculated that the owners want to have a new set of bar owners in paying higher rents. His reasoning is that NEP and Patpong are the only areas in Bangkok that are officially licensed to have bars - so closing NEP to the bar scene would a drastic move. Also of course NEP draws a lot of tourists to all the hotels and businesses in that area. Will be interesting to see what happens! Wednesday, 23 May 2012, From Snick: from what I've read/heard New master lease for NEP starts July 1, rents will triple in some cases Crown group has sold out, not sure if one group bought all bars, or if bars were sold off individually The group that bought Cascades is planning on making it a GG bar Obsessions should stay LB ( at least I have not heard otherwise ) Temptations has been sold , no word on whether it will stay LB Casanova might be sold off Wednesday, 23 May 2012 From Ladyboy who works at Cascade: i come to nana now. nana plaza not closing forever just for fix some thing. may be cascade will change the owner, i don't know if every thing happen like that where lady boys will going. i will can tell you when it happen and then i will tell you what is my life will going on. ok; i will go to work now,i am in nana allready. Thursday, 24 May 2012 From TTChang: There seem to be a few common threads ..... (just from what I've heard) 1. NEP ownership (top leaseholder) has changed, with new leases offered from July 2012 at much increased rents 2. Crown Group (owners Cascade, Obsession, Voodoo, G Spot, Lollipop ..) have sold all their bars 3. Negotiations (tough ones) are taking place. 4. Casanova rent doubled (asking price presumably) and may or may not close. 5. Present SPECULATION is that several bars will close or consolidate. 6. Would make sense to merge Obsession with Cascade (upstairs in the much larger unit) but the word on the street is that Obsession is so lucrative that they wouldnt risk losing the Japanese by going to the 3rd floor. In summary, think it very unlikely that NEP will close altogether. Although if bars wont pay the rent, the NEP owners might have a good alternative offer for full redevelopment up their sleeves (which I'm sure the Govt will love ... to get rid of Nana Culture Centre). Guess bar is expecting plenty of new job applicants, which they will generally reject (Jessy would get in if she asked!!) Thursday, 24 May 2012 From Snick: Interesting...first I have heard about a 1-2 month renovation of Nana. On one hand, it really needs it !! , but on the other, 2 months is a long time. You'd think they would close half of Nana, fix things up, close the other half. My feeling is...no one really knows...I find it hard to believe that the new owners of Cascades think they can make more money with a GG bar then with a LB bar.But maybe they have a 'plan' or maybe they are just stupid rich. I hope the new KC3 is big enough to fit all the ex-nana girls !!! Friday, 25 May 2012 From TTChang: Seems to fit with what I've heard. Will be interesting for us, possibly very bad news for 100+ LBs. Maybe they will all return to Si saket, Roi Et ... etc Any other information would be most welcome!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardhi Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I think you will find that in a years time, NEP will much enhanced and look more like Soi Cowboy or Walking Street with a huge upgrading of the bars and a big increase in neon signs. Cascade is looking highly likely to revert to a GG bar - it started off this way many years ago and then switched to being a LB bar primarily as the then owners were unable to get girls to work, presumably as they offer less salary than for example Rainbow - who have no trouble in filling their 4 bars with amazing talent. Its location is a problem though - its the furthest gogo lying on the top floor and at the back of the plaza. It remains to be seen how much of a success new owners can make of it. There is talk that Temptation s has been sold to some japanese investors. Rumours are abound about Casanova as well. However for all these bars, there is a huge entry price - your buying the licence to operate a entertainment venue - they are no longer issued outside of certain approved zones (Patpong, Ratchada and one other area are the only approved zones in BKK). The licence is worth way more money than anything else and they are not tranferrable to another address. A few years ago, Rainbow group purchased the old pub/diner that was on the 1st floor (2nd to Americans) - however they overlooked that its entertainment licence had lapsed and thus it could not be a gogo bar. As a result, to solve the problem, they had to buy the small gogo next door and create one large bar - the price they paid for that small tired gogo was huge - however without the licence, they could not have opened. The end result is now Rainbow 4 and its arguably the most popular bar in NEP. The rumour was they paid 20,000,000b for that tinpot run down gogo just to get its licence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardhi Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Its also been assumed that the new master lease holders are anti-ladyboys. I suspect that is not fully correct however they do wish to clear up the outside area of trouble makers and most of the time, those tend to be whacko ladyboys high on drugs. The entry costs for LB bars in NEP - due to the value of the licences is the cause of the current unrest. ladyboy bars do not have anywhere near the volume of punters as GG bars and thus are always at a disadvantage when you look at ability to pay higher rents. It may well mean that a bar that could work financially on the old level of rent, becomes very marginal on revised levels of rent. Therefore, in that scenario, the switch to being a GG bar makes a lot of financial sense. I expect we will see one, or possibly two of the current 4 LB bars switch to being GG bars due to the rent increases. You may see a couple more LB bars opening around lower Sukhumvit, however they will have to contend with serious police interference in their operations as they will be opening without the benefit of an entertainment licence (as they are no longer issued). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaronxas Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I imagine this also means that Nana Plaza will become a lot more expensive than it already is. 300 THB ladydrinks anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiamSam Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Undoubtedly they will test what the market can bear. So if you buy those 300baht lady drinks they'll try to get 350. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PANIC Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Extracts from a series of emails: nana hotel parking could fit them all in Any other information would be most welcome!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegame925 Posted June 2, 2012 Author Share Posted June 2, 2012 Received 31st May 2012 from Kee of Cascade: now i know something to tell you.next month june 1, all the girl have to meeting for meet new owner. cascade will not close just for fix something but other bar i don't know. Will tell you more when i hear Xxxxx Kee 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegame925 Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 The change appears to be only ownership and Mamasans - all operating normally and a very impressive middle aged blonde Mamasan running Cascade like a professional manager. The LBs have had salary raises - the talent is good - further reports will follow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glasswax Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Undoubtedly they will test what the market can bear. So if you buy those 300baht lady drinks they'll try to get 350. and I believe those prices will push more BMs down to Pattaya and Phuket for more 'bang' for the buck. Glass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomcat Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I think the drinks have already gone up in Nana by some degree. correct me if im wrong someone but the bills do seem a bit heavier lately... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardhi Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 I think the drinks have already gone up in Nana by some degree. correct me if im wrong someone but the bills do seem a bit heavier lately... It would not surprise me at all. The drink prices in most of the LB gogo's have not increased in the last 3 years, possibly 4, so they are long overdue an increase, especially as price of Heineken and Singha has risen by about 25% over that same time period. I am also expecting that barfines are likely to increase up soon in most bars, again, as salaries have risen considerably. Thailand as an economy is doing very well (no idea why that is though) and costs/salaries are rising everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTChang Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 . Thailand as an economy is doing very well Locally, maybe. But not the rice exports, thanks to the Pheu Thai Govt. Balance of trade must be suffering, but then again the stats will probably be massaged in the predictable govt denials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardhi Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Locally, maybe. But not the rice exports, thanks to the Pheu Thai Govt. Balance of trade must be suffering, but then again the stats will probably be massaged in the predictable govt denials. That is not a surprise when you offer 25% over the market price to buy the stuff and then wonder who is going to buy it at that premium over the market price. I suppose they always look at best practice policy adopted by the EEC in the days of butter, milk and wine mountains when they did the same thing. However what will happen is that it will be claimed to be stored for a while and then 'thrown away' as the stock has gone off. In reality it will be in the local shops next week and the taxpayer will be eating the very rice that is scheduled to be destroyed next year when it expires. By the way, no farmers will get rich out this - they are getting the same price as before - the middlemen will be making the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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