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  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dragonfly View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Scottish Gary View Post
    In Patts we have Retox bars in Soi Lengkee, Soi Honey, the darkside and we also have the Robin Hood bar in the Avenue on second road which is part of the chain. I believe they are now looking at Cambodia.
    The mode of business is simple in the extreme. Fill the place with tv screens showing 24 hour sport and sell very cheap food ie 98b baht full English breakfasts.
    This chain has exploded over the last 2 years and they now have a monoply on Pattaya sports bars. I cant believe nobody has thought of this before.....sell em cheap and pack em in
    Before the customers were your loud drunken English chang vest holidaymakers but now the place is full of ex pats, Aussies, Dutch,German anyone really who likes sport and cheap grub.
    hum, sounds too good to be true, probably another British scam, create an impression of sucess to sell it back to some suckers couple of years later

    by the look of the Thai boxing "owner", definitely your typical petty British gangster
    Actually, one shouldn't stereotype the owner simply because of his somewhat uncompromising looks and the market he's exploiting. He's actually reasonably articulate and comes across as eminently sensible and realistic with a self deprecatory style that's quite charming in contrast to his slap headed, tattooed hullkiness. I have heard him several times and quite like the guy.

    However, his business model is still puzzling in that it is utterly dependent on volume which he may well get in peak season but certainly between May and November everyone suffers with numbers plunging south as in a precipice. The old days when a significant floating population of Brits living off their UK social security benefits infested Pattaya have long gone as indeed have the hundreds of blue collar oikish labouring classes who used to stay regularly for their two week shagfest holiday whenever they had accumulated a bonus bunce. Since 2008 those guys have just evaporated.

    It did cross my mind his company may well be exploited as a conduit for others to use as a laundering opportunity for boiler room funds.

    Kind of makes sense.

  2. #27
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    I am always suspect of any business run by a westerner that stays open longer than a year and even continues to expand while others just wither and die. Not saying anything funny is going on, and I really don't care if there is. Any establishment that has sports on numerous TVs and decent western food at a decent price gets my vote. I could care less how it gets funded, or where the money goes.

  3. #28
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    Now you can ….. Get involved.
    Phase 1 is now completed.
    We now have 4 Retox Bars, The Robin Hood Tavern and a production kitchen as part of the group
    This makes us the Biggest Sports bar/restaurant group in Thailand
    Now onto phase 2
    We are now actively seeking partners/investors as part of our controlled expansion of the Retox Brand into , 2 locations in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui , Chiang Mai, Udon Thani , China , Cambodia and Vietnam
    Proven model with guaranteed returns of 8% minimum per annum
    Interested call us for an informal chat
    0874406060
    Or email. Info@retoxpattaya.com
    8%pa on a minimum of a bernie will certainly tempt a good few.
    Last edited by taxexile; 05-04-2017 at 04:45 PM.

  4. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by tj916 View Post
    Dragonfly and Scottish Gary.
    Why don't you pop down there and tell him to his face.
    Let us know how you get on.
    Ive no problem with Simon at all. He actually is a nice guy. Im just not keen on the customers who pack out his bars. Too loud and too English for me. The big fella actually has a following of the type of customers who are impressed with large muscle bound men with lots of money. Tim Sharky attracts the same sort of following but with Tim his fans love reading about his mongering activities and bodybuilding while with Simon its his domination of the Pattaya sports bar scene and boxing matches. Both men have thousands of Facebook followers hanging onto to their everyword.
    Last edited by Scottish Gary; 05-04-2017 at 06:15 PM.

  5. #30
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    I remember the Irish Rover at the bottom of Soi Metro was just a run of the mill, pretty dead pattaya sports bar...Big Simon bought it over and in a matter of weeks it was packed every morning with farangs of all descriptions munching on their 99baht full English fry ups. It was also jam packed everytime a big sporting event was on. On the back of that he went into the backpacker hostel business opening up hostels in Pattaya and Ko Chang. I understood Ko Chang but not Pattaya. Have you ever seen a dreadlocked,smelly, mummys boy in a multi coloured t shirt walking about Patts?.....neitheir have i. ....I did have suspicions at that point that the business might be getting used for other purposes.
    The next thing the Irish Rover gets sold, the place goes back to being dead and Simon takes his Chang vested farang army to his next venture Retox which is packing em in again even during low season. This must be putting a hell of a lot of pressure on other bars with 3 bars all owned by the same owner mopping up all available farang sport loving customers
    The big guy does appear to have the midas touch using a well worn formula of cheap food, sport on the telly sexy bar staff and a charismatic owner
    Last edited by Scottish Gary; 05-04-2017 at 06:05 PM.

  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by tj916 View Post
    Dragonfly and Scottish Gary.
    Why don't you pop down there and tell him to his face.
    Let us know how you get on.
    to some retarded British chav with chips on his shoulder ? are you fucking mad,

    he is another nutter looking for his next fight because that's all he is capable of. I have met those types many times in Pattaya over the years, and they always act the same, and incidentally end the same, either doing a runner or getting killed

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by tj916 View Post
    Dragonfly and Sctottish Gary. Why don't you pop down there and tell him where he is going wrong?
    After all Gary no one knows food like a Scot...
    I'm sure he will take all your oplnions on board.
    are you on board with that scam too ? probably by the sound of it

    so what's your cut for advocating here that silly business ?

  8. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum
    It did cross my mind his company may well be exploited as a conduit for others to use as a laundering opportunity for boiler room funds. Kind of makes sense.
    it certainly does fit the pattern, but the boiler rooms are being squeezed by the FBI and Interpol, so they might be selling all those bars at a discount while they can, and do a runner

  9. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by taxexile View Post



    Now you can ….. Get involved.
    Phase 1 is now completed.
    We now have 4 Retox Bars, The Robin Hood Tavern and a production kitchen as part of the group
    This makes us the Biggest Sports bar/restaurant group in Thailand
    Now onto phase 2
    We are now actively seeking partners/investors as part of our controlled expansion of the Retox Brand into , 2 locations in Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui , Chiang Mai, Udon Thani , China , Cambodia and Vietnam
    Proven model with guaranteed returns of 8% minimum per annum
    Interested call us for an informal chat
    0874406060
    Or email. Info@retoxpattaya.com
    8%pa on a minimum of a bernie will certainly tempt a good few.
    scam alert !!! do people ever lean ? apparently they still don't

  10. #35
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    This must be putting a hell of a lot of pressure on other bars with 3 bars all owned by the same owner mopping up all available farang sport loving customers
    The big guy does appear to have the midas touch using a well worn formula of cheap food
    lets hope he has a good funeral plan then, because hes probably not long for this earth.

  11. #36
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    It's a variation of the pump and dump routine. Interesting to see how many marks pitch in with their mill. I wondered how he could operate and still make a profit - the answer is, he isn't but he is circulating the cash until maybe someone comes along and buys the lease. The thing is, none of these premises are probably owned by him so the entire pyramid is intrinsically flawed.

    Come September no one anywhere is doing any business worth a song here in Pattaya in the Farang bar/transport cafe style food joint places not least because there are simply too many to service the Brit clients. Krauts don't go to these Retox places, Brit bars are not their scene and in truth they've got their own trade up in Naklua.

  12. #37
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    ive never seen any mildly sexy staff in there.... the food is good , good value, good service, i dont like sport enough to go anywhere to watch it. my daughter likes the food, so we go once in a while. will have to google the retox in the dark side.

  13. #38
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    oh, was in there a couple of days ago , a foreigner, maybe ity, gobby bastard, obviously had an ongoing rapore with one of the girls, who was less than enamored with him, so not all gobby brits.

  14. #39
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    so where is retox on the darkside.

  15. #40
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    ^It's the old O'Neils on SCC. I haven't been there, even when it was O'Neils, but have driven past many times on the way to/from golf.

  16. #41
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    The success of Retox isn't exactly rocket science: reasonably decent British grub at a fair price. But I believe this restaurant was somewhat busier before. The drop in the number of visitors from the UK, as a result of the drop in the pound, can't help those establishments which rely on UK clientele. I hope they survive the lean times, for businesses come and go over night in Patts, in particular those that are the "flavour of the month".

  17. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by elche View Post
    The success of Retox isn't exactly rocket science: reasonably decent British grub at a fair price. But I believe this restaurant was somewhat busier before. The drop in the number of visitors from the UK, as a result of the drop in the pound, can't help those establishments which rely on UK clientele. I hope they survive the lean times, for businesses come and go over night in Patts, in particular those that are the "flavour of the month".
    The food is so cheap it makes no profit. How they make their cash is by buying existing places up and packing them out with Brits munching on their 99baht fry ups in the morning and specials at night. They then hope that somebody looking to live the dream sees this busy bar and buys the lease of them inevitably for treble for what they paid for it. This cycle just goes on and on. However like you say if the bars are not busy due to a lack of Brits that's when the plan starts to unravel.

  18. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    I emailed Simon Peatsfield and he stated he is in talks with a well known establishment up here, hoping he means Udon Thani. We could use a fine sports bar here in Udon and I know I would be frequenting the place.
    Not enough barstool warmers to make the Retox concept anywhere near a viable option in Udon Thani. Different demographic completely and I can imagine the same old faces (there's not really a whole lot of them) will tire of the 98 baht bahtbuster breakfast 7 days a week.

    Yes Udon Thani badly needs a breakfast place that actually opens early enough to serve breakfast but not everyone lives a short walk or tuktuk ride from the current 'farang central' off Soi Sampan where I would assume the place would be located.
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  19. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum
    It did cross my mind his company may well be exploited as a conduit for others to use as a laundering opportunity for boiler room funds.
    More than enough Irish and British pubs in Bangkok were well know to have either investors from the boiler rooms or pretty visible links. There's another Brit with the Nightwish Group who started flipping bars on Soi 6 and elsewhere in Pattaya that says there's not enough hours in the day for him to keep buying up bars and making money hand over fist. The usual tripe, rubbing shoulders with local pooyai's and on nodding terms with the top cop, etc..
    Last edited by tamadah; 28-05-2017 at 09:32 PM.

  20. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Headworx View Post
    ^It's the old O'Neils on SCC. I haven't been there, even when it was O'Neils, but have driven past many times on the way to/from golf.
    Nicely done up place but don't know if they retained any of O'Neils fixtures and furnishing. One this is certain though; having eaten at their Lengkee, Honey and 'dark side' locations, there's consistency in content, quality and presentation which is something that someone is very obviously paying attention to. I though the Honey service was a bit poor compared to the other two though.

  21. #46
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    ^Agree. The Robin Hood is my favourite location of them all, been there half a dozen times and always had good service. Try what they call posh fish-n-chips sometime when it's the daily special, it's a typicaly huge plate of fish, chips, salad, peas, but the fish is salmon (which I had never tried battered before). It's really good, and surely a loss-leader @ 175 baht.

  22. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by tamadah View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Headworx View Post
    ^It's the old O'Neils on SCC. I haven't been there, even when it was O'Neils, but have driven past many times on the way to/from golf.
    Nicely done up place but don't know if they retained any of O'Neils fixtures and furnishing. One this is certain though; having eaten at their Lengkee, Honey and 'dark side' locations, there's consistency in content, quality and presentation which is something that someone is very obviously paying attention to. I though the Honey service was a bit poor compared to the other two though.
    The service in Leng Kee is the worst of the lot especially if its busy. The English guy who they have managing the place gets upset if you raise any objection.

  23. #48
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    ^
    Then he needs to be fired.

  24. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scottish Gary View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by tamadah View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Headworx View Post
    ^It's the old O'Neils on SCC. I haven't been there, even when it was O'Neils, but have driven past many times on the way to/from golf.
    Nicely done up place but don't know if they retained any of O'Neils fixtures and furnishing. One this is certain though; having eaten at their Lengkee, Honey and 'dark side' locations, there's consistency in content, quality and presentation which is something that someone is very obviously paying attention to. I though the Honey service was a bit poor compared to the other two though.
    The service in Leng Kee is the worst of the lot especially if its busy. The English guy who they have managing the place gets upset if you raise any objection.
    I haven't had bad service at Lengkee but more like slow service when it is busy. They haven't followed the usual mantra of having extra but mostly unobservant and lazy wait staff like some others in the area. I will do a drive-by first and if it is busy, go elsewhere. But the place is a lot quieter than it was say 18 months ago and the end of the Brit footie season will make it even easier to get faster service.

  25. #50
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    He's doing well in a highly competitive market- good on the bloke.

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