Pattaya bans airhorns at bars after noise complaints

Pattaya‘s nightlife scene can get loud, and authorities are looking to deal with noise pollution. Pattaya City has now released a statement to the city’s bar operators with three regulations that they must fully follow by March 15. Among these regulations is the removal of air horns.

The new regulations come after numerous Pattaya residents lamented to police about the city’s problems with noise. The regulations are…

1. Open and close establishments during the hours specified by law.
2. Control the use of music and other loud noises within the establishment and refrain from using airhorns, whistles, and boat horns inside or outside of the establishment.
3. Remove any existing airhorns, whistles, or boat horns from the establishment.

These horns are commonly used in bar areas as an alternative to bells to serve drinks to staff or hostesses.

Bells were not banned by the new order. It was unclear whether the horns may still be allowed in completely enclosed venues like gogo bars, according to The Pattaya News.

It’s no secret that Pattaya is a loud city. From bar fights to gunfights to illegal motorbike racers, the city struggles to control the noise for residents who just want to sleep peacefully at night.

In the past, some conflicts over noise pollution in Pattaya have even resulted in violence. In September last year, a man stabbed another man on Pattaya’s Jomtien Beach over a dispute about the victim talking too loudly.

Witnesses said the victim had been drinking on the beach when a man who had been sleeping in a tent walked out of the tent and told him to talk more quietly. The victim responded by aggressively telling the man to mind his own business, the witnesses said. The attacker then pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim.

Pattaya’s new regulations for bar operators won’t solve all the city’s problems. But the banning of airhorns, whistles, and boat horns, is hopefully a small improvement.