Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Entertainment Venue Licences is here in Thailand. I actually thought of cutting the quote that we used in the title to cut off the word licence because it's spelled the British way; they use Cs instead of Ss for some reason. I thought about that in my Americanness but decided to leave the full quote out of respect to the Bangkok Post which is where I found this, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Night restaurants call for fair zoning. Quoting directly: "The Night Restaurant Business Trade Association has urged the Government to establish clear and fair zoning regulations for entertainment venues after recently taking the first step towards rescinding the regulation that prevents alcohol sales in the afternoon. In October, the Government began studying the possibility of easing the afternoon alcohol sales ban and relaxing zoning rules for entertainment venues. The afternoon alcohol sales ban between 2pm. and 5pm. has now been temporarily lifted for a 180-day period as a trial, effective as of December 2." Quoting further: "Rawat Khongchat, a member of the Night Restaurant Business Trade Association, said that to revise the law to be fair to restaurant operators, the Government should consider two points: the zoning rules, and the process for operators who wish to obtain an entertainment venue licence. He explained that the number of operators who were able to obtain an entertainment venue licence is very limited." Yeah, licencing in the food and beverage space as well as the entertainment space can be a rather daunting endeavour, and I don't really envy anybody who has to deal with that process. But that being said, it is a rather necessary one if you are going to basically operate in that space. It remains to be seen if they're going to open this up. I hope that they do. 

It looks like this Government's overall paradigm is to be reasonably conducive to just business. I think we see this in multiple different spaces where it's like look we do regulate alcohol for example, but the 2 to 5pm afternoon ban which was created under a Military Government some 30, 40 years ago - yeah that wasn't very reasonable, and it really wasn't getting any kind of benefit, there wasn't an appreciable benefit to society being gained at the expense of these businesses - so they got rid of it. I think overall, there is a very pragmatic paradigm at the moment here in the business sector in Thailand. I think it's being evidenced by the fact that we are seeing these kind of changes. 

Now, does that mean that everybody that applies for an entertainment licence is going to be able to get one? I would say very unlikely; you have got to have your ducks in a row with regard to that. It's also a really good idea to do, if you haven't bought a place yet, doing the due diligence with regards to licensure of premises, if you're looking to do business - food and beverage, entertainment, whatever - doing the due diligence to ascertain whether or not you can get all the licences you want to do the business you want to do here in Thailand is an important aspect of getting a company or a business set up over here. 

So for those who are interested in this, especially as it pertains to entertainment venue licences, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.