The afternoon alcohol ban is finally being scrapped. Well, for six months at least.
From today, December 3, you'll be able to legally buy booze between 2pm and 5pm for the first time in decades. It's part of a 180-day trial that's lifting Thailand's longstanding afternoon alcohol sales restriction, which has been in place since the early 2000s.
The new rules mean alcohol can now be sold during three windows: 11am-2pm, 2pm-5pm and 5pm-midnight. That middle slot is the game-changer, approved on a trial basis to see how it goes. Shops must be registered to sell alcohol (obviously), and if you're drinking at a venue, you can stay until 1am.
Once the trial wraps up, Bangkok's Alcohol Control Committee and provincial committees across Thailand will assess what actually happened during those previously banned afternoon hours. Did it help small businesses compete with big chains and tourist areas, as supporters argued? Or did it unleash chaos, as critics worried?
There are some exceptions to all this, by the way. International airport terminals can sell alcohol whenever they fancy to arriving and departing passengers. Licensed entertainment venues operating within legal hours get a pass too, as do hotels registered under the Hotel Act.
It's worth noting this is specifically about sales restrictions. The rules around where alcohol can be consumed and advertising regulations remain unchanged for now.
Whether this trial becomes permanent depends entirely on how the next six months play out. The committees will be watching closely to see if the doom-and-gloom predictions materialise or if it's just a sensible update to outdated laws.
For now though, afternoon pints are back on the menu.