No early closing on New Year’s Eve

PHUKET: Entertainment venues will be allowed to stay open until 6 am on New Year’s morning, the Deputy Secretary of Phuket Provincial Administration Office, Wisut Romin, has told the Gazette.

During the latter part of this year, nighttime venues have been the focus of a battle between the government, which has commanded them to close at midnight or 1 am, and bar and club owners and managers, who claim the early closing has cost them millions of baht in lost income.

However, K. Wisut said today, “The law states that entertainment venues will be allowed to open until 6 am on January 1, 2005, because it’s a time for celebration.”

But the law applies only to venues such as bars and clubs, not to stores. “Shops selling liquor can trade only in the times laid down in the the declaration of the 1972 Revolutionary Council, of 11 am to 2 pm and 5 pm to midnight,” said K. Wisut.