Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing entertainment licenses here in the Kingdom of Thailand. A recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is thepattayamail.com, the article is titled: Withdrawal of Entertainment Licenses the Final Nail in Walking Street's Coffin. This is a really good interesting article. There is a lot of insight in here as to what is going on. Big changes down in Pattaya, I think fundamental changes down there but just to quote one little excerpt for the purposes of this video. Quoting directly: "Of all the pieces of stamped documents required to open fun palaces in Pattaya, the Entertainment License is key. You also need liquor and cigarette licenses, a proper lease and if a foreigner, a company registration and a Work Permit issued by the Department of Labour." 

So the reason I wanted to go ahead and make this video is I occasionally get people who ask me about Entertainment Licensing in Bangkok, not so much in Pattaya because I don't have as much exposure down there but they are very different. Pattaya has, it is almost kind of fundamentally different when it comes to Entertainment Licensing. Bangkok Entertainment Licensing would be really cumbersome to deal with; a lot of work to get the documentation associated with Entertainment Licensing. Generally speaking, there are different criteria associated with different types of venues. As noted, just a standard bar and grill, any place that is serving alcohol is going to need an alcohol license, presumably if the place is selling tobacco, or usage of tobacco on the premises it is probably going to need to go ahead and have a cigarette license or tobacco license. Again there is music licensing associated with songs, copyrights etc. here in Thailand. So there is a lot of licensing associated with any type of entertainment venue and then on top of that if you are specifically entertainment license for example, discotheques, go-go bars etc., these kind of places have to have an even more enhanced licensing structure associated with the running of those types of businesses. 

So again interesting developments down in Pattaya as it appears that at least parts of Walking Street may not be getting renewals of certain Entertainment Licenses although it remains to be seen. I suspect there will probably be some nuance on that as things unfold, but who knows? 

I just wanted to go ahead and make this video because yeah there is an Entertainment license. It is very different even from an alcohol license or licensing and documentation associated with just a standard bar and grill setup. You have to get specific licensing for those types of venues.