Thai court orders popular Bangkok night bazaar closed - Singapore's Online Community

**Voodoo Vince** · 04-03-2008, 09:35 PM

Thai court orders popular Bangkok night bazaar closed

BANGKOK - A THAI court has ordered shopowners at Bangkok's Suan Lum Night Bazaar to pack up and leave one of the city's most popular tourist spots.

The Crown Property Bureau, which owns the land on which the sprawling market of 3,000 shops, restaurants and a Thai puppet theatre sits, said on Tuesday a court issued an order on Feb 13 for tenants to leave within 30 days.

Those who ignore the order to leave the site, at a major intersection close to the main business district, may face 'seizure, arrest or imprisonment' the CPB said in notice printed in Thai newspapers.

'It is the intention of Crown Property Bureau to comply with the court order and to carry out this order as stated,' said the agency, which manages the Thai royal family's assets.

The large site - also next to Lumpini Park, the biggest in central Bangkok, and a subway station - is a prime piece of real estate in the city, home to 10 million people.

Last year, the CPB signed a long-term lease on a large chunk of the site with mall developer Central Pattana, which may build Bangkok's tallest building as well a hotel and a shopping mall, according to Thai newspaper reports.

Other developments, including an embassy row, were being considered as well.

However, the CPB had to first wrest control of Suan Lum back from a property company, P Con Development, which was granted a short-term lease on the site of a former military college in 2000. It opened the night bazaar a year later.

P Con refused to leave after the lease expired in 2004 and according to the CPB, ignored lease extensions intended to give the shopkeepers time to leave. The bureau went to court.

On Jan 30, the Southern Bangkok Civil Court ruled that P Con's lease had expired and it should quit the site.

The developer was not immediately available for comment. -- REUTERS

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_213174.html

**amabelng** · 04-03-2008, 10:10 PM

so is Suan Lum market really going to close down?

**Voodoo Vince** · 04-03-2008, 10:12 PM

Not now, but in the future.

***StarDust*** · 05-03-2008, 09:32 AM

That's bad. I used to go there when in Bangkok.

**Voodoo Vince** · 05-03-2008, 09:50 PM

Bangkok night bazaar in legal battle for survival

BANGKOK - HUNDREDS of small shopkeepers are locked in a legal battle to prevent Bangkok's night bazaar, a hugely popular tourist attraction, from being razed and replaced with a mall, a lawyer said on Wednesday.

The Crown Property Bureau, which manages the assets of Thailand's royal family, had won a court order on Jan 30 evicting the shopkeepers from the market, which sits at a prime downtown Bangkok location next to the city's main park.

But a lawyer for P.Con Development, which runs the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, said the company had appealed against the eviction, allowing the shops to remain open for the time being.

'It will take at least a year before the Court of Appeal hands down the verdict,' P.Con's lawyer Sertsiri Moraruang told reporters.

'During that time, it's business as usual at Suan Lum night bazaar,' he said.

The Crown Property Bureau (CPB), which owns some of Bangkok's most desired real estate, has been waging a months-long battle to evict the market.

A court ruled on January 30 that all traders and businesses must leave the market within 30 days, and pay 100 million baht (S$4.45 million dollars) in fines to the CPB.

P.Con vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court if needed.

The site was once a military training academy.

The CPB was granted a lease to run the market at the site from 2000 until 2005. Since then, P.Con has battled to keep the market open.

The market is home to hundreds of shops, restaurants and a puppet theatre.

Located next to a subway stop, the night bazaar has become a major tourist attraction and an incubator for young Thai designers seeking to sell their wares.

CPB has already awarded a contract to Central Pattana, a major retail and hotel company, to develop the site into an upscale shopping centre that would include space for embassies and a hotel. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2...ry_213646.html

**wildswans** · 05-03-2008, 11:51 PM

I wanted to go there but haven't had the chance to go to BKK yet... need to wait for their situation to settle

**winni12** · 05-03-2008, 11:57 PM

really wasted if it closed down

**Voodoo Vince** · 06-03-2008, 12:48 PM

Hope the government revert their decision.

**PinkLady** · 06-03-2008, 02:37 PM

why close? what a pity, things are cheap there

**STAN** · 06-03-2008, 02:38 PM

dam ....what a waste

**Voodoo Vince** · 07-03-2008, 09:35 PM

It is a waste to close down. Hope they open another one, somewhere near.

**loveyunki** · 09-03-2008, 08:20 AM

Suan Lum Night Bazaar.
Just came back from bangkok 2 weeks ago, went to suan lum...
don have good experience there... coz i feel that the things they are selling are too ex.
maybe coz there are too many Caucasians and Japanese there, thus the high prices...
i still prefer chatuchak weekend market...

**TotalNV** · 09-03-2008, 11:01 AM

oh no.... one more tourist place gone.... sighx...

**KongMing** · 09-03-2008, 01:29 PM

Last time I went there, saw the peddlers followed us whenever we go. So don't worry, they will somehow setup some places to do business.