16 August 2009
Nanny says it’s time for bed: The middle of August, usually classified as about the start of the worst of the low season, has seen the local plod and licensing types scurrying about the length and breadth of Walking Street determined to enforce 3:00am closing times on entertainment venues.
There is a suggestion the crackdown will last for 10 days, and then the various late-night boogie barns, chrome pole palaces and beer boozers can return to their extended opening hours.
These crackdowns happen periodically, usually during the low season, and they make good media coverage for the mums and dads at home in their villages in places  such as Lopburi and Surin. Of course, they play havoc with the financial bottom line of many places, but I suppose the contrasting argument is that, by law, all entertainment venues have to be closed by 1:00am.
It is my understanding that the law has been on the books since the 1980s and possibly even longer. What happens is that the authorities charged with enforcing the closing times accept the nature of nightlife business and are usually ‘relaxed’ about the closing times, generally not worrying about places being open as late as 2:00 or even 3:00am.
What happens is that over time the operators of entertainment establishments push the envelope and try staying open later and later until a crackdown comes along to pull them back into line.