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Great Bars


Glasseye

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I miss Tony. One of my favorite people of all time....

 

I have been to many great bars, and many not so great - all over the World. My favorite 3 were all located near my home, back in the day...

 

- The Esquire Lounge - located in Champaign Illinois. Nice place. Started out very small, then grew and grew and grew. Great location, great bartenders, huge assortment of beer, great food. My "go to" place for hanging with friends and meeting some nice "ladies".

 

- Todd and John's, Urbana Illinois (Now a very popular rib joint). One of my best friends owned and operated it. Hole in the wall type place, but very comfortable. Great friends and great fun.

 

- The Silver Bullet Bar, Urbana Illinois. The best hole in the wall strip club. $10 table dances and beers for $2 (back in the day). An absolute gold mine, and always a blast.

 

 

What are yours ? 

 

 

 

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1: Secrets: (had one or two barfines out of there)

2: Le Pub:  have had some cracking sessions there with the lads over the years

3: Time Bar: the manager Apple is a friend of mine and have had some wild nights there

All Pattata pubs...lol

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3 hours ago, Starshine said:

1: Secrets: (had one or two barfines out of there)

2: Le Pub:  have had some cracking sessions there with the lads over the years

3: Time Bar: the manager Apple is a friend of mine and have had some wild nights there

All Pattata pubs...lol

Secrets, Champagne and Tim's at their peak are probably 3 of my favourite Pattaya bar's, although there have been many regular one's I really loved. 

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1 hour ago, galenkia said:

Secrets, Champagne and Tim's at their peak are probably 3 of my favourite Pattaya bar's, although there have been many regular one's I really loved. 

Tim's was excellent. The best loos in Pattaya 🙂...I remember you had the mother of all sessions at Champagne one afternoon 🥳

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Favorite bar Pattaya......The Shamrock Bar, located directly across from the old Penthouse Hotel and just a few doors down from The Classroom. Probably a good 50% of my holiday drinking scratch when in Pattaya has gone into the till at this bar. Terry, the owner, has been around since 1985, and at nearly 80 years old, still going strong. A great spot for meeting up with fellow travelers and expats. The Sunday drinking sessions I've had there have been legendary.

Favorite bar Kenya......Cheers, located on the Mombasa-Malindi highway, a few hundred yards in from the ocean. A 24 hour place, been converted by the new owner to have a stage for live bands and other events. Gorgeous staff who are willing to meet you either after their shift or on their day off. The various independent contractors gather to seek out a potential companion and aren't shy about making the first move, but they do so in such a lady-like manner, you can't help but be taken in with their charms. The bottles of Tusker, served in a 500 ml sized bottle, were 300 shillings on my last visit, roughly $2.75, the most expensive priced beers I usually get. Most other pubs are closer to 220-240 shillings.

Favorite bar New Orleans......The Tropical Isle on Bourbon St, in the heart of the French Quarter, this place is a gem with live blues everyday by local musicians. Always a enthusiastic staff, a great mix of tourists and they serve a few tropical tasting drinks, such as their signature drink, the Hand Grenade or another called the Horny Gator, guaranteed to knock your d**k in the dirt if you're not careful. Of all the bars on Bourbon St, this has always been a regular stop before venturing off to the bars that line the side streets with cheaper prices, and where the locals go.

Great idea for a thread, Glass!

 

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The 'Z' bar.  A Texas roadhouse off highway 99 in SE Texas. It was our regular haunt.  It also had the good fortune to be on the power grid of a nearby hospital so when Hurricane Ike knocked power out in the area for a couple days, it was unaffected, and invited a taco truck and a bbq truck into the parking lot.  The place was rammed.

In Pattaya: Secrets in its heyday, NLD1, Peppermint when it was up the escalator, TQ, Scooters and Celona on LKM, Jibby's, Runway, too many to count, actually.

EDIT: Can't leave out BKK.

Safari and King's Castle 1, patpong.  G spot and a half dozen other bars, nana.  Suzi Wong, Tilac, and others, cowboy.

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17 minutes ago, tko said:

EDIT: Can't leave out BKK.

- In the mid 90s I loved Happy Hour in HJBs the downstairs bar in the Amari Watergate. It was fucking rocking at 5pm and at BOGOF prices it was cheaper than most places.

- I lived on Soi Rangnam at the time and my "local" was the Isaan bar run by Doug and Yim.. The man was fucking bonkers but FAF!! I also met Trink in there and some bloke called Ed Moses...

- Also the beer chang "happy 4 hours" upstairs in NEP - 4pm till 8pm All the beer chang you can drink for 100 baht (brown bottle looney juice). Full of cheap charlie low lifes, which is why I fitted in perfectly...

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Back in the day BJ's was my favourite in Pattaya.

In BKK Jools was a great place when Kim Fletcher & Matty Swire had it.These days(at least when I was there last) I used to meet a mate in the Robin Hood on the corner of Suk & Soi 33a in BKK & that's probably my favourite now.

When I was young my favourite local was the Halfway House in Rickmansworth,the Courage Best & Directors came straight out of barrels behind the bar and was to die for.I first went in there carol singing with our vicar aged about 15,so it's Gods fault that I'm a pisshead.It's still there but a shadow of its former self.

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20 minutes ago, coxyhog said:

,the Courage Best & Directors came straight out of barrels behind the bar and was to die for.

In 74/75 I was based in Gillingham, Kent. The local pub was The Star and it sold Courage Best. I thought that it was too sweet and nutty so stuck a small brown with it..... and there my journey towards drinking Whitbread Forest brown ale began !!!

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1) Rouges Sports Bar, corner of P Burgos and Makati Avenue, cheap San Miguel, nice girls, always some side hustling going on...

2) Three Owls, Gibraltar (upstairs at "The Nest"), but believe the owner passed away a few years ago... the only proper pool table in Gib...

3) Hotel bar at Tyre Resthouse, our usual R&R hangout spot in Lebanon.

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Secrets.

Livingstones Bangkok Soi 33 back in the day 

Maggies Bar Beijing

Rockhouse. Soi LK

Butterfly Bar Soi 6

Matrix Brawn Angeles

King Kong Soi 6

Lovely Corner Pattaya Beach Road

Babydolls when Ricky and Miserable Old Paul were in there

Number 10 has to be Le Pub I guess ..... 

 

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24 minutes ago, nampla69 said:

Maggies Bar Beijing

I can't place Maggies I can only remember two from the early 90s:-

- Poachers, but I didn't really enjoy it in there. In those days the best piss ups were in the Embassy bars.

- There was only one western supermarket in Beijing, down an escalator as part of a hotel. The hotel complex was also where the Ericson office was. Upstairs was a bar with a Filipino band. Fantastic place to meet up and get pissed !!!

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Lovebirds - Manila (Ermita 1987)

Black Out - Manila (Ermita 1987)

Insomnia - Angeles

Hong Kong Brew House -  Hong Kong (now closed)

Felix Bar - Peninsular Hotel Hong Kong

Blue Note - Subic (1990)

Hotel California - Olongapo (1990)

Capt'n Greggs - Sabang Philippines (burnt down recently - no update if being rebuilt)

Harley Bar - Barrio Barretto (1990 till now)

Midnight Rambler - Barrio Barretto (1990)

Rockhouse - Pattaya

Bar 5 - Saigon

Maverick City Angeles - 1990

 

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17 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

I can't place Maggies I can only remember two from the early 90s:-

- Poachers, but I didn't really enjoy it in there. In those days the best piss ups were in the Embassy bars.

- There was only one western supermarket in Beijing, down an escalator as part of a hotel. The hotel complex was also where the Ericson office was. Upstairs was a bar with a Filipino band. Fantastic place to meet up and get pissed !!!

Over by the Olympic Stadium as it was being built. Legendary place didn't start until after midnight ..... walked in late first time it was like you were in the goldfish bowl.

Tiered rows of benches with at least hundreds of ladies --- Chinese, Mongolian, Russian, Uzbek, Kazakh and every 'stan you could point an atlas at. 

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1 hour ago, thegrogmonster said:

Not everyone's cup of tea but I spent many a year drinking at Cheers bar in Soi Pattayaland 2. Met a lot of good people there and in its heyday one of the best spots in Pattaya for viewing all different types of people that lived in or visited the town.

Me too,a great place to escape the madness for a while & have some good conversation.Is Welsh Colin OK,I heard he was in a home somewhere in Pattaya? A really great guy.

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2 hours ago, Jambo said:

FLB Bar - The first bar I visited in Pattaya on my very first trip and the first bar I returned to for the next three years trips. So many happy memories and so many friends made. Who remembers the Dance Competitions?😄

Living Dolls - Walked in on the first night of a new trip having not been back for exactly six months. Service girl escorts me to a table, leans over and says "Joy not working tonight - would you like me to phone her?"  Not only did she remember me but she remembered I had b/fined Joy on my last night six  months before. Steve, the Manager, was the only person I have ever known who could fall asleep standing up and not spill his pint!

Catz - Owned by Robert & Robin who were often my golfing buddies. So many happy mamories including "Miss Tesco." 🤣

Secrets - From October 2006 until Ben lost the plot my local, my workplace and many of the happiest times of my life. Customers became friends who returned each year and we all had a great time. What a shame!

Le Pub - The ideal venue to start your evening out in Pattaya. Phil deserves to prosper in these difficult times.

The Roadhouse (Angeles City) - Made my first trip to AC on my own and at Ben's suggestion visited the Roadhouse on my first night as there was a connection with Secrets. I was made so welcome on that first night by their owner and always tried to visit again on subsequent trips to AC.

Gheko's - ( Angeles) - There are only two things worth doing in AC and that is drink in bars and f@@k pussy. Nothing wrong with that then.

For the early riser Gheko's is one of the places you could do both as it opens at 12 noon and was usually packed by 12.30. However if it looks young it usually is and Gheko's had more than its fair share of young looking pussy. Hence you had to be very wary of whom you were buying lady drinks for as Gheko's was loaded with "Cherry girls." Hence the experienced AC visitor would preface "would you like a drink?" with "Your not a Cherry girl are you?' Nevertheless, the veteran AC visitor would know that the term "Cherry girl" could have various definitions other than all parts being out of bounds. 😄

Street 136 - (Phnom Penh) - Always stayed in the Riverside Hotel which is notable for the fact it is not by the riverside and that opposite it is a number of bars whose names escape me but were rammed full of pussy. Had some absolutely great times with the usual suspects up and down street 136 usually ending in an alcoholic blur and sometimes finding in the morning I had made a new friend.

 

Recognise and been to most of those named bars ......... might work on 11-20 next.

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"Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same

You want to be where everybody knows your name"

I like to define a good bar, based on a few criteria;
1) Do I like the atmosphere?
2) Do they serve proper beer? (I am really not that picky, although I am one of the few who thinks Belgian beers are shite)
3) Is it fun, even if I go there by myself?
4) Do I want to return as a customer?

Bonus if they have a proper pool table (I like to play pool, even if I suck at it). Pool, pinball machines, Fußball table and darts belong in a pub - not so much shuffleboard, that is for cruise liners and people with white hair.

Value / price is not that important (except when I write my reviews on Tripadvisor).


 

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