Big Mango

[SamplerDoc]

For those that don't know its a great bar in NEP.................great place for      and looking at the talent run about

At any rate is gated up and closed as of last week some time.

Any have any thoughts or info?
Thanks

[mardhi]

The owner of the building (not same people as Nana Plaza) but the tailor shop in front of Soi 4 put up the rent.   The tenant said too much and declined to renew so ended the agreement.     Simple as that really.


By the way, this is a very common trend at the moment in Thailand - everything is going up in price, yet margins are actually coming down - the whole city is going through a re-adjustment phase. Not withstanding the fact that whole apartment buildings are empty, tourist arrivals are way down and the baht is strong, does not seem to have hit home with many landlords.

Cheers
Mardhi

[stogie bear]

If the landlords need the money then they'd be better businessmen!

Most don't and are quite happy to see their buildings sit idle.

[jadeite]

Now if Big Mango moves next to wherever Guess is going, then you'd have something!

[moe666]

Stickman has a story about this in this weeks column. Nana plaza is leased by the owners to another company for a set amount then they lease out to the bars and also the store fronts along soi4. These stores control the rent in there section of Nana Plaza and can ask what ever the market will bare. It sounds a bit complicated but Stick covers it.
The story also goes in to some detail about Nana Plaza which maybe of interest to some of the regulars.

[Guest]

Thanks Moe was an interesting read.

[ShockToe]

There may be lot more detail on the Big Mango Blog. The Indian family which owns Raja's Tailors owns the Master Lease for NEP and wanted to raise the rent by a little more than double. (As I mentioned in another thread, the master lease has between four and five year to run. Speculation is that the Thai family holding the land wishes to sell.) Nick and Michael decided not to renew the lease. The decision was made on Wednesday and the bar closed early Saturday morning. It was quite the blowout on Friday night. Note that they also own/operate The Duke of Wellington pub in Silom.

It just goes to show you that even with the Treaty of Amity, Americans are sometimes forced into having Thai partners.

As I understand it they are looking for a new space for The Big Mango but as extremely successful entrepreneurs, are looking at several other opportunities.

Marginally related: James Gandolfini owns the movie rights for Jake Needham's book, The Big Mango, and was expected to be in Bangkok scouting locations. He was also expected to drop by The Big Mango Bar.

[bigmick22]

interesting comment from Stickman

"Nana's great chance to turn it around was the elaborately designed Cascade Bar, a venture the owners sank serious money in.  There was a fancy laser light system custom-built in Taiwan but it was damaged when being offloaded from the plane and as far as I know, it never made it to the plaza.  What had promised to be a great bar never really took off and later became another katoey cave.  For me, that was the turning point for Nana.  If that bar had worked, it might have brought the crowds back, and forced increased investment by other owners as they attempted to compete.  Nana Plaza would have become a draw again.  Alas, that was not the case and as Nana dragged its feet, money was being pumped into Cowboy."

[Snick]

LOL
Cascades is still the hope for Nana !!
One or Two more LB bars, and they might just rename is Katoey Plaza

[bigmick22]

we can only hope

[SamplerDoc]

Good FeedBack Guys.........
It crossed my mind that if every landlord wanted they could try to double the rent they are asking....then what would happen?

I would suspect most bar owners would pay and some would try to relocate and set up the bar in a new location?  Lots of expense if they went about it,eh?