To get to New Top Man and Patpong by BTS Skytrain, go to SALA DAENG Station (Silom Line) and use Exit 3 (Robinson). Soi 2, where New Top Man is, is 100 meters down on the Robinson side of the road, next to Burger King.

To get to New Top Man and Patpong by MRTA Metro (Subway), go to SILOM Station and use Exit 2 (Si Lom). Soi 2, where New Top Man is, is 100 meters down on the Robinson side of the road, next to Burger King.

But beware of imitations -- there is only one New Top Man A-Go-Go Bar, and it is in Bangkok.

NEW TOP MAN A-GO-GO BAR

8/9 Silom Soi 2, Silom Rd. Tel. 632-8934

Open Daily: 8:30 pm - 2 am

Two DJs and a show at 10:30 PM nightly

Drinks only 150 Baht (beer, soda, spirits)

Up the stairs at the end of the alley (Soi 2) gets you admission to this bar. Sit in the luxurious pit in front of the stage, or higher up at the back for an overall view. Note the small altar where the boys often pray. Enjoy the new sound system, the dancing and friendly, non-pushy companionship, if that is your desire.

If you like the place and want to return several times during your trip, Parn suggests buying a "Set." I did this on my last trip. Basically, you are purchasing a bottle of booze, which will be kept at the bar for up to a month. This gives you more than 30 drinks--and you can share them with the boys and guests.

The bartenders are friendly and efficient and are here to serve your every need.

www.thaiguys.org

New Top Man

Twenty-five years of service (well nearly!)

Bangkok Bars where you could just dance with guys had been around since the 1960’s, then in 1978 a new law forced these gay dancing bars to move to the a-go-go format as it was not illegal to watch male dancers but was to dance with them! This led to the formation of The Garden Bar in Silom Soi 2, where young guys gathered and performed dance routines on the star-spangled floor with hits like ‘Saturday Night Fever’ and ‘Black is Black’. The bar was on the first floor at the rear of Soi 2. It was, like most gay bars then, a host-style operation.

Bangkok and, especially, Silom were greatly different then. The Dusit Thani Hotel at the corner was by far the tallest building in Bangkok, and on the other corner Robinson Silom had not been built. Other prominent buildings still to come were Silom Complex, Thaniya Plaza and CP Tower. Most of Silom Road was two-storey Chinese shop houses (as still exist opposite Soi 2).

The Garden Bar was one of three gay bars in Soi 2 and no! . . . DJ Station and JJ Park were not the other two! Below Garden was Harry’s bar, which performed a nightly drag cabaret and to the side was the Cero Bar, which only opened when Harry’s closed. Entertainment ceased at 5 AM, or when the last paying farang left.

Over the next decade, the Garden blossomed but then was hit by fire in the late 1980’s. All was not lost though, as Cero bar moved from a 2am opening to an 8pm opening to keep the dance mood flowing. The first floor locale re-opened as ‘Banana Garden’ in the early 1990s but by then the whole Bangrak gay bar scene was changing -

In Silom Soi 2, Jasmine had moved from Soi 4 and was renamed Charlie’s Hideaway and DJ Station opened. Over the next few years, Cero gave way to Disco-Disco and JJ Park was opened. ‘Happen’ opened later. Harry’s eventually closed (after several attempts at being a restaurant) as did Charlie’s Hideaway to be replaced by high priced drinking bars-but that was in the late 1990’s.
In Silom Soi 4, as well as Jasmine moving, Apollo and Lonely Boy Go-go-bars closed and a new style of bar like Telephone and Balcony opened. Rome Club opened and closed in a number of formats.
Twilight Bar was no longer on its own with the whole Soi changing to the a-go-go format and similarly a-go-go bars in Silom Soi 6/Soi Tawan opened in excessive numbers (past names included Green Carnation, Bank Studio, Khun, Super-Lek but 80’s bars like Golden Cock still survive).

By the mid-90’s the gay scene was clearly divided between the commercial a-go-go bars, and the freelance-commercial bars like Telephone, DJ station etc. The old style dance format of Banana Garden did not fit. Banana Garden thus gave way to Topside, which finally gave up the idea of a dancing bar, and succumbed to the a-go-go format, opening as Top Man Bar.

On 1st August 2003, this moved on to become ‘NEW TOP MAN’ Bar.

NEW TOP MAN bar opens at 8.30pm and closes at 2am. Dancing generally starts on opening but because of the traffic, dancers sometimes arrive late. At the time of writing there were 25 dancers from the 50kg twinks to the 150kg men, and all the betweens. .

All drinks at NEW TOP MAN are150 Baht, and drinks for the guys are the same price. Manager Dow and his staff Gai, Dum and Aey are on hand to answer any and all of your questions.

NEW TOP MAN is on Silom Soi 2. By taxi ask for Robinson Silom and walk from Robinson to the Burger King, Soi 2 is the alley to the right. By Skytrain go to Sala Daeng Station (Silom Line) and leave by exit 3, turning back toward Burger King.

NEW TOP MAN

8/9 Silom Soi 2, Silom Road, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500 Tel: 0 2632 8934

New Top Man Bar is one of my favorite places to while away the hours. It is Thai-owned, super clean, with genuine boys, good drinks and great prices.