From Super Fun Hot Spot to Security Walls and Patrols

1. Last month, Nashaa nightclub fell victim to fire and is now hidden behind a very high metal security fence.
2. For safety reasons, many other buildings in the area are covered with the same metal sheeting on the famous Walking Street.
3. Security guards have tripled since the incident even though there are no customers these days.

The victim of fire last month, Nashaa nightclub in Pattaya, Thailand, is now protected by a very high security fence with a teeny tiny entrance. The dramatic transformation of Walking Street has gone from a super fun spot to a ghost town, with many other buildings covered with the same metal sheeting for safety reasons.

In a one-kilometer area, the number of privately hired security guards has tripled. A former bar has cut its protection costs by using a furious chained dog instead which adds its own barking threats to the dual-language notice ordering passersby not to enter under any circumstances. When not threatening people, the dog ironically rests on a mat that says “Welcome.”

A nearby security guard Mr. Katee said, “The Nashaa fire has made everyone nervous. Even though there are no customers these days, there is still a lot of money tied up in these old buildings.” He thinks the owners and renters are waiting to be paid off in preparation for wholesale demolition.

Not everyone agrees. Some local keyboard warriors imagine it’s just a matter of time before business as usual returns post pandemic and the good times roll again. They should take a stroll there before becoming too confident. City Hall, for its part, certainly backs big changes to come. No permits to operate alcohol-related businesses will be issued for 2022, while the buildings on the seaward side jutting into the water have been scheduled for demolition. The provincial electric company is laboriously burying the overhead cables in Walking Street, but the general idea is to prepare for a walk-through leisure and business area rather than a refuge for chrome pole dancers.

The Eastern Economic Corridor, a rich consortium of Thai and foreign big-name companies, is the determining factor. The EEC has already funded several local projects – motorway links, Bali Hai harbor improvements, Jomtien and Pattaya beach renovation, and the hi-speed railway linking the area with Bangkok – and few doubt it will move soon on Walking Street. When the bulldozers do eventually move in, a very different street will emerge from the ashes.

At any rate, the padlocked steel fences and reinforced barbed wire won’t be missed by anyone. The only visitors to the clubs now are the garbage disposal trucks.