Tally pub faces 5-year shuttering following raid
Metropolitan police chief Pol Lt-General Chanthep Sesawet said on Friday that he would propose that Royal Thai Police close the “Tally” pub on Sukhumvit Soi 22 in Bangkok for five years after a police raid on Thursday morning found it stayed open well past the mandated 2am closing time and 20 patrons tested positive for illicit drugs.
Police are authorised to shutter for five years an entertainment venue that has violated entertainment-venue laws. The punishment was proclaimed under order 22/2558 of the National Council for Peace and Order backed by the all-powerful Article 44 of the Interim Constitution of 2014.
Tally, on the ground floor of the Holiday Inn in Vadhana district, was still open at 4am when police arrived, while 200 patrons were drinking and dancing.
Pub manger Thananwit Jadmee, 34, was charged with violating the closing-time law, operating a pub without a licence and selling alcohol-based drinks without a licence.
A police raid on the “Banjerd” entertainment venue in Bang Khen earlier the same Thursday morning also found it open beyond legal hours. It would be fined for the violation, Chanthep said. Police would continue to check on it and take legal action on it if re-offended, he added.
A police source reported that Bangkok City has 364 night entertainment venues with properly obtained licences. They include 39 venues for dancing (with music and stage performances) and drinking (such as a nightclub, bar and restaurant); 12 restaurants offering food, alcoholic drinks and tea where female receptionists sit with customers; 82 massage parlors; 195 restaurants with food and alcoholic drinks; and 36 venues with food, alcohol and other drinks (with staged performance to entertain) that are allowed to open beyond midnight.