Once Asia's party capital, will Bangkok's nightlife scene recover even if Thailand's tourism industry picks up?

When DJ and producer Marmosets released his pounding techno track Krungthep Ratree (Bangkok nightlife) in June 2020, he had no idea how relevant his lament to the fading glory of Asia's party city would be, and of the decimation ahead for bars and clubs as the coronavirus pandemic cut through Thailand.

Nightlife has only been allowed to operate legally for a few weeks since then, as authorities tried to beat back a months-long Covid-19 outbreak by banning alcohol sales inside licensed premises, effectively closing clubs and bars.

From the racy go-gos of Soi Cowboy to the mixology bars of upmarket Thong Lor, the rooftop hotel happy hours to the street-side pop ups that serve booze until dawn, Bangkok's cacophonous nightlife has been muted.

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Marmosets reels off the names of closed underground clubs, many of which will never return as owners go broke or run out of hope.

"Twelve bars I know have closed permanently, most of the other places that I used to play are temporarily closed," the ever-present fixture on Bangkok's music scene told This Week in Asia.

"While Covid is with us I don't see any signs of nightlife returning."

Even as Thailand prepares to reopen to vaccinated overseas visitors on November 1 and lift a curfew, the muzzle on nightlife appears unlikely to be eased until December at the earliest. Bars and clubs have not yet been told when they can operate or under what restrictions.

The problems for Bangkok's nightlife stretch back to before the pandemic. Political chaos has brought periodic curfews while the death in 2016 of the beloved former King Bhumibol Adulyadej saw a year-long mourning period which affected the entertainment scene.

Meanwhile, bar owners say their pay-to-play relationship with local police stations has become more complex and costly.

"You have to have good friends in the police to stay open," said the manager of a downtown pop-up bar which has operated in near open view throughout the latest lockdown, despite a booze ban. "When we have to close there is another bar upstairs to go to. We know how to work carefully."

There are regular local media reports of raids on illegal bars across Bangkok crammed with both Thais and foreigners who are tested for Covid-19 - at their own cost - and fined around US$120 on the spot.

Patrons have non-alcoholic drinks at a rooftop bar in Bangkok. Photo: AFP alt=Patrons have non-alcoholic drinks at a rooftop bar in Bangkok. Photo: AFP

Thailand's nightlife economy was estimated to be worth over US$5 billion, and prolonged lockdowns have seen hundreds of thousands lose jobs in bars and associated industries including sex work, music, tuk tuks and taxis.

International DJs have ditched tours for a second year, as Thailand - like much of Southeast Asia - cancelled festival dates and stadium concerts.

In the gap, local DJs are gaining more prominence, which some music watchers say could see fresh home-grown sounds emerge when the clubs are finally allowed to reopen.

But at Soi Cowboy, the normally neon-lit strip whose racy go-gos have drawn tourists since the 1970s, reopening feels a long way off, and food stalls have occupied the entrances of closed bars.

Outside 'Kozy-Kazy' nightclub, Kanya Serint, a 38-year-old who has worked as a chef in the area for the last decade, now makes papaya salad for a small income while she waits for the tourists to return.

Like many in the industry, she is worn down by the pandemic and cautious of more trouble to come.

"If we reopen our country too soon - only to close again - that will be the end of Soi Cowboy," she said, fearing a rise in Covid-19 infections as borders reopen next month.

After nearly 20 months of lost business without any government help, there are fears that a city which used to burst to life at night may already have lost its reputation for variety and reinvention.

"I'm spending my savings to keep things open now, we're on our last breath," said Chinnatan Klamjeenpanuwong, owner of Ba Hao, a Chinese-themed bar and restaurant in a gentrified shophouse in Soi Nana in Chinatown.

But as the restrictions grind on, he predicts more of the independent bars and clubs that give the city its character will close.

"I don't think Bangkok's nightlife can ever be the same again."

Across town in Silom at the Bangkok favourite 'Smalls', co-owner David Jacobson said the troubles for the city's nightlife scene had been a long time in the making, with sky-high alcohol taxes already squeezing profit margins.

"There's been no financial help at all for bars," he said. "There's a good chance of going out of business because we're just broke."

Jacobson, a New York photographer whose celebrity friends would occasionally appear at the popular bar before the pandemic, is a nightlife pioneer in Thailand but fears the once-boisterous city is now becoming accustomed to going to bed early.

"Will it ever get back to what it was before? I hope so, but it's getting stretched pretty thin," he said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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