Among its many other talents, Bangkok has the uncanny knack of squeezing in more ‘entertainment' venues per square meter than most other cities in the world. Many cities in Europe and elsewhere have their usually unremarkable ‘red light' districts spread generously across acres of city space usually by the docks. The tighter, racier streets in London and Amsterdam are perhaps a bit closer to the Bangkok experience.

Patpong has dozens of bars squeezed into the smallest of real estate parcels considering the numbers it attracts, while Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy over Sukhumvit way do their best to get as many warm bodies on to as small an acreage as is possible without actually needing a sardine can key to get into or out of some bars.

The more laid back version of this desire to camp out ass-to-elbow in the name of attracting as many punters to soak up the beer and the atmosphere as possible, is to be found on Sukhumvit Soi 22.

There you will find Queen's Park Plaza, space-wise no more than a modest field where I come from, but in this mode it's teeming with pleasantly-pissed, pool-playing punters a-mixing and a-mingling like there was no tomorrow. And dare I say, this little enclave of tidy little bars and bistros is a tad more refined than the full-on girlie bars of Nana and Cowboy. You could quite happily bring the missus here for a yard of pool and a bit of nosh…and in one case, a bit of live music too.

Whch is why I was there of course, although there was so much to see in such a small space it was hard to write up just one venue.

We started off at Moonshine Bar where there is live music every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sundays with bluesman Tony Love kick off at 5 pm and the other nights see Chai on solo guitar Saturdays from seven, and Friday features young Bay on guitar and vocals from seven. Tony Love is a stand out on keyboards and that rich brown voice of his is perfectly suited for the blues and the other favorite R&B hits he covers.

While all this is going on, there is a great diner menu to pick your way through with Tex-Mex, burgers of all descriptions, Club sandwiches, BLTs and many other U.S. diner favorites to choose from. This ain't no prize-winning restaurant but a real nice small bar to hang out in, play pool and enjoy the music. And they feature darts tournaments too which circulate around the bars in the Plaza night-by-night, week-by-week giving darts fans a chance to win this roving tournament without every leaving Soi 22!

We were stuffed with burritos, nachos and tacos before we left washed down with an omellete and many green bottles of beer.

The bar has special free food on Sundays with the Love Machine in action and a great Sunday is had by many as the food goes and the beer chasers work their magic. They open for full breakfast too at 10 am every day. They close at 1 am or thereabouts.

Lusting for bigger pool tables we headed for yet another Country Road – this one makes it three- at the back of the Plaza where there are three great tables and very business-like ladies to take care of you or partner you in a game. Then out we went into the Baan Thai beer garden restaurant which was chock-a-block with well-informed tourists, in for some Thai food and a quiet pint – very respectable!

Many of the other beer bars have little more than that - a small bar and pool table, or maybe two or three in some cases. And of course beer. But Queen's Park Plaza is a nice place to weasel around looking for that special pool table and there's no shortage of pretty young things either – depending on how many green beer bottles you have emptied.

Moonshine Pub
Queen's Park Plaza
Sukhumvit Soi 22,
Bangkok 10110
Telephone: 02 260 1899
06 529 9481
Live music Friday, Saturday, Sunday
From 7 pm – 1am