Of Times Past

[PeterRS]

I am certain this question has been asked before, but not for quite a time. For those who visited Bangkok decades ago (and this is just Bangkok - if someone wants to start a thread on Pattaya, please do so in the Pattaya thread), what was your favourite bar - and why? I pick out two I have written about before.

1. Barbiery on Suriwong opposite Soi Twilight (mid-late 1980s)

With around 100 boys, the bar seemed always to be humming with customers, especially at weekends when extra seating had to be added. On the two stages the shows were usually fun. Most of all, I cannot recall a boy not smiling. And I never had a dud off. I even took one for a few days to Hong Kong where I lived.

2. Apollo Bar at the end of Silom Soi 4 (early 1980s until Hotmale opened in Soi Twilight)

Earlier than Barbiery, I discovered this small bar above what later became Sphinx. I had a big crush on the student bar tender but he was not offable. There can only have been about a 12-15 strutting their stuff on the catwalk and, as with Barbiery, always smiling at their fellow bar boys and the customers. As with Hotmale, the pants came off and the boys danced nude from around 9:30pm. Again I always had a great off and never a dud. The boys always seemed to enjoy themselves.

[Mavica]

I was such a newbie in BKK in the early 1990's.  Dreaded Ned's was the go to web guide / forum for BKK (anybody else here a contributor to that forum?). Spartacus guidebook did a good job covering the city, as well.  Harry's was the first BKK gay bar I entered; a collection of expats frequented and were helpful.  DJ Station was in the same Soi, as I recall. And there was a bar above Harry's with twinks for the picking (Garden Bar?), without charge for them to accompany back to the hotel (I was at the New Trocadero Hotel). Across the Soi was a "Beer Bed & Boy for $5" bar, the concept of which I totally misunderstood.  A friend and I entered that bar, had our beer, paid our US$5, took the boys upstairs, fucked them and left without paying anything to the boys.  It was my first experience abroad with pay for play. I've regretted my lack of sensitivity (to the boys) since.

[a-447]

I'm a 100% hands-on type of guy.

I'm happiest when my hand is on a cock.

So my favourite bar was the old Nature Boy - not the bar that's there today.

My first favourite guy was O. I'd walk in, he would pull up a stool, pull his cock out and put his hand up my shorts. (I had them order-made in Bali with wide legs to allow easy access).

We'd fondle each other for about an hour as we drank and enjoyed cigarette or two. We'd then retire to my hotel for a long suck and 'chuck' session. Later, when I became a bottom, I got to enjoy that monster up my arse. As a bonus, he would let me cum in his mouth.

After O found a boyfriend and was no longer available, I found Mai.

Such a lovely guy! And with an even bigger Isaan cock for me to enjoy. We went through the same routine I had with O. The fun continued back in the room; it took a while and a bit of trial and error, but eventually I was able to 'accommodate' his monster.

I'd go to Nature Boy without fail every evening while I was in Bangkok. 

My other favourite was the old Golden Cock - the only bar open during the afternoon. I've had some really great times there when they would lock the door (I'm shy 😂) and let everything hang out. 

And an honorary mention to Solid bar.

 

 

[PeterRS]

30 minutes ago, a-447 said:

And an honorary mention to Solid bar.

A friend and I used to visit Solid Bar almost every Sunday but I think the bar did not appear until the end of the 2000s. It never had more than a few customers but the boys were friendly and it had two rooms at the top for additional activities. We always had a good time there. Sadly one boy I really liked so much disappeared. I asked the owner where he was and he told me he had to fire him because he was taking drugs. Sadly!

[macaroni21]

Fond memories of Barbiery and Hotmale (or was it then still Twilight?) in the very late 1980s and early 1990s. The all nude boys on stage at Hotmale were a thrill. The fluorescent painted dancers at Barbiery were beautiful. The artist was fantastic.

I also have a fond memory of a tiny bar called City Boys located on Sukhmvit or Phloenchit Road close to where the expressway flyover crosses it. Took out a charming university student who, very very rare in those days, spoke some English. Despite that, I never fully understood whether he was doing physics or physical education. The following trip I made to Bkk and City Boys was no more.

[Londoner]

I liked Solid, too. I suspect that I was more relaxed in a smaller environment, particularly one that was not dominated by loud music.  It must be the smallest enclosed bar I ever visited, anywhere, and it never seemed to have more than  about ten guys. They were definitely my type and  being so close to Tarntawan, it was convenient; I was rather shy about walking back to a hotel with a go go boy. I'd probably be even more so now!

I remember the mamasan; his jacket  seemed two sizes too big for him. I never spent more than three or four days in Bangkok before moving on to Pattaya and so the number of my visits to Solid must be small. After it closed, I recall walking through Soi Twilight and being hailed by this ex-mamasan, now installed in an even smaller host bar. Astonishingly, he remembered me.

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, Londoner said:

I recall walking through Soi Twilight and being hailed by this ex-mamasan, now installed in an even smaller host bar. Astonishingly, he remembered me.

Solid actually had two mamasans. There was the one you noticed in the tiny host bar just to the right of Dicks. The other actually left a couple of years earlier to go and work in Dicks in Pattaya! Not sure how long he stayed there.

In another thread, one poster laments the situation when one customer buys a bottle of whisky an then monopolises a number of the boys, probably some of the more handsome ones. I noticed this once in Solid. One farang had six of the dancers (i.e. about half of them and all the best looking ones) sitting around one of the small tables, chatting and joking as they drank from the bottle. After 30 minutes of this, I told my friend I was going to ask when the farang would be releasing the boys to do their jobs. Admittedly, there were probably no more than six customers of which we were two. But we were regulars.

The farang was perfectly polite, pointed out that he was actually one of the two owners of the bar and when he'd opened the bottle there were just two other customers there. Within minutes he had the boys leave their glasses on the table and interact with the other customers before returning if they were not offered drinks by the others. I don't think we ever saw Solid with more than about eight customers and so I actually felt sorry for the owner. As a bar it just did not take off with a volume of customers which could have made it even remotely profitable.

[hank75]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

The farang was perfectly polite, pointed out that he was actually one of the two owners of the bar

Perhaps this was why the bar had no customers. A savvy owner would have the boys immediately accompany the customers as soon as they stepped into the bar. Not drag on drinking games for another 30 minutes, while customers potentially could have walked out. 

[a-447]

5 hours ago, Londoner said:

I liked Solid, too.  It must be the smallest enclosed bar I ever visited, anywhere, and it never seemed to have more than  about ten guys. 

I guess you never made it a bit further down the soi to Nature Boy.

It was like a short, narrow corridor with a small stage at the end.

Space was at a premium, especially when the Isaan guys released their cocks from their pants!

I was often the only customer. While I was playing with one of the guys, the others would sit down the back watching porn on their phones, jerking off.

 

[Keithambrose]

9 hours ago, a-447 said:

I guess you never made it a bit further down the soi to Nature Boy.

It was like a short, narrow corridor with a small stage at the end.

Space was at a premium, especially when the Isaan guys released their cocks from their pants!

I was often the only customer. While I was playing with one of the guys, the others would sit down the back watching porn on their phones, jerking off.

 

I remember  that bar. As you say , space at a premium, once you were in there, the place seemed to be all cocks! Cum everywhere!

[PeterRS]

16 hours ago, hank75 said:

Perhaps this was why the bar had no customers. A savvy owner would have the boys immediately accompany the customers as soon as they stepped into the bar. Not drag on drinking games for another 30 minutes, while customers potentially could have walked out. 

The occasion I wrote about was the only time I ever saw a group of boys around one table sharing a bottle with someone I assumed to be a customer. I actually think Solid failed partly because it was in the wrong place. Granted it was near Golden Cock and Nature Boys but they never had more than a handful of boys as I recall and they were more raunchy than Solid. Solid probably had too many boys with too high a wage bill.

And partly also because the layout was not very customer friendly and few people knew about its facilities. Stage on left side as you entered, boys sitting on bar stools on the right, and then about five tables further in. There was also a mezzanine level where you could play around with a boy or boys, but I think hardly anyone actually knew about that. Bad PR in my view. 

Perhaps that's why over 2 or 3 years we never saw more than two tables occupied, albeit we were only there on Sundays. 

A P.S. on Barbiery. I have no idea why it gave up its great location opposite Soi Twilight. But it then moved to the Golden Cock/Nature Boys soi on the first or second floor of a new building almost directly across from Nature Boys. We thought it was a disaster! The owner had significantly reduced the number of boys and increased their ages. No longer twinks. There was zero atmosphere in the place. Even the waiters almost growled at us. Such a shame and unsurprising it did not last long. 

[Londoner]

PeterRS's post astounded me; it's almost as if we were in that bar together, that same night. In fact, I was going to post a similar  comment but decided not to add to my existing one.

Yes, I too was furious when I saw this happening because that night I was in the market. Furthermore,  the guy smoked a cigarette, the smoke of  which in that small room was impossible to escape. And yes, I learnt (I think from one of the guys, I assume) that he was an owner.

Dame Edna would have described  a  shared memory such as this  as "spooky".  Perhaps we were the "two customers"?

[PeterRS]

On 6/13/2026 at 1:21 PM, Londoner said:

Furthermore,  the guy smoked a cigarette, the smoke of  which in that small room was impossible to escape.

The night we were there, it was not just the owner who smoked: all the boys at his table did as well! This was even though there were two large signs in the bar statng NO SMOKING!

[Patanawet]

15 hours ago, PeterRS said:

The night we were there, it was not just the owner who smoked: all the boys at his table did as well! This was even though there were two large signs in the bar statng NO SMOKING!

He wasn't the worst customer at Solid.
There was often a disgusting late middle aged ,'belt and braces' person wth trousers up to his nipples.
The boys trembled when he entered in case he chose them for the night.  His activities in bed were not pleasant and he refused to pay the boys until they cried.
Away from the bar, he was a 'respected' person in a farang public position always talking homophobically (real word?).
This is all 'allegedly' in case he is still arround.

Hurting my brain now  trying to remember the name of the nice manager/partner/mamasan who eventually ran the bar on his own.
Eventually, Solid closed and he opened up a small open bar on the right at the end of Twilight.

[Londoner]

 In Pattaya, where the bars are closer together and the guys live nearby and often socialise after hours,  a "bad" falang  quickly wins an unenviable reputation, one which follows him from bar to bar. No mamasan would force a guy to accept an off from such a customer.

At the same time,  and I've said this before, if you speak to ex- bar boys  who enjoyed long careers in their profession, you will likely hear very positive reviews of how they were treated. 

[PeterRS]

On 6/12/2026 at 10:21 AM, Mavica said:

Spartacus guidebook did a good job covering the city, as well.

I wonder in what wilderness gay men would have found themselves in the 1970/80s without that publication. OK it was not always 100% accurate but it was my bible for many years not only in Thailand but in quite a few other countries around the world. I cannot now recall how I discovered it but it opened my life to so many amazing places and encounters.

[Mavica]

57 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I wonder in what wilderness gay men would have found themselves in the 1970/80s without that publication. OK it was not always 100% accurate but it was my bible for many years not only in Thailand but in quite a few other countries around the world. I cannot now recall how I discovered it but it opened my life to so many amazing places and encounters.

Yes.  Before the broader proliferation of the www and gay informational websites/guides such as this forum ... Spartacus guidebooks led us to our world as we traveled.  I'd pack it together with my Lonely Planet guides when I headed out.  

You've been around for a long time, right? Did you ever post to the Dreaded Ned's gay Thailand forums or take advantage of the gay guide information that was part of that site? 

[TMax]

I did buy a copy of Spartacus from a second hand book shop once but at the time I was a regular traveller to the Philippines (and more straight) but it did spike my curiosity a lot and through that I did discover the hotel I was staying at in Manila was high on their gay friendly list. Of bars, my first gay bar experience was Golden Cock as I had read about the happenings there and wanted to see and experience that myself, I think I read about it on either Dreaded Ned's or Dragoncastle websites. I haven't been to many bars because I prefer daytime activities, hence my love of the massage shops but I do wish Adonis massage was still in business (hot guys with big cocks). I will say the best advice I have found and or been given on the gay scene in Bangkok has come from the members here and it is something I appreciate greatly.

[Londoner]

For me it was MIchael Notcutt's "Thai Scene." Not only listings, including Chiang Mai, but sensible advice on offing and on Thai culture. And a cute guy on the cover.

[Patanawet]

much better than Spartacus was  'Trees in The same Forest' by Eric Ayllyn.
I wonder if I still have a copy  it would be wonderful for reminiscing.  I think it followed on from 'Men of Thailand' also Eric Ayllin. --- still 'with us'. (may have been even better ).

 

[Keithambrose]

5 hours ago, Mavica said:

Yes.  Before the broader proliferation of the www and gay informational websites/guides such as this forum ... Spartacus guidebooks led us to our world as we traveled.  I'd pack it together with my Lonely Planet guides when I headed out.  

You've been around for a long time, right? Did you ever post to the Dreaded Ned's gay Thailand forums or take advantage of the gay guide information that was part of that site? 

Yes, I used Dreaded Ned! Quite useful, I seem to remember. 

[PeterRS]

5 hours ago, Mavica said:

You've been around for a long time, right? Did you ever post to the Dreaded Ned's gay Thailand forums or take advantage of the gay guide information that was part of that site? 

Yes, a long time. But I never read Dreaded Ned's site. It was the late 1990s before I was hooked up to the internet. By then I already knew from Spartacus or more often from friends and personal visits where I wanted to go.

1 hour ago, Patanawet said:

much better than Spartacus was  'Trees in The same Forest' by Eric Ayllyn.
I wonder if I still have a copy  it would be wonderful for reminiscing.  I think it followed on from 'Men of Thailand' also Eric Ayllin. --- still 'with us'. (may have been even better ).

I never read any book with references only to Thailand. My travels were taking me to so many different places and a book just on Thailand was never high on my personal list.

[Londoner]

I recall Spartacus providing a warning attached to some entries.... "older guys not welcome here." One of the great things about Thailand's section is that it seldom appeared there. If at all.

[Mavica]

5 hours ago, Patanawet said:

much better than Spartacus was  'Trees in The same Forest' by Eric Ayllyn.
I wonder if I still have a copy  it would be wonderful for reminiscing.  I think it followed on from 'Men of Thailand' also Eric Ayllin. --- still 'with us'. (may have been even better ).

 

That's an apples to oranges comparison, though.  

[PeterRS]

18 hours ago, Londoner said:

I recall Spartacus providing a warning attached to some entries.... "older guys not welcome here." One of the great things about Thailand's section is that it seldom appeared there. If at all.

One Spartacus warning that was applied to some of Thailand's entries was AYOR. It was also quite a common abbreviation seen against venues in less gay accepting countries.