One shop, one bar, a record wall

A small, cosy room on Prapokklao Road inside the Old City, with a second-floor gallery for local artists. Mum Pimolpud and Laurens Brouwer, who DJs as Oomboi Lauw and runs the independent label Liquorish Records, opened it in May 2022 after a 2018 tour of Japan's bars. The idea, in their words, is to hear more and say less, and the music never dwells on one genre for long: soul, jazz, reggae, funk and hip-hop through to dub, ambient, EBM, techno, jungle, house, gqom and footwork, from the 1960s to now. Racks along one wall let you pick an LP; wall displays of covers change daily. Guest DJs from across Thailand, a monthly Tape Night, festival-themed parties. The week has a shape. Thursday is relaxed and conversation-friendly, hip-hop, funk, indie and punk. Friday and Saturday are big beats and dancing. Sunday afternoon is down-tempo afro-jazz and reggae. For listening, go Thursday or Sunday.

A two-level conversion of a traditional house on Prapokklao Soi 1. Nuii Bar downstairs has the food menu and guest DJs playing from laptops. Fung, up the wooden stairs, is the reason it is here: all analogue, all the time, funk, indie, disco and rock on vinyl, and, in Time Out's words, the speakers are good and the tunes rock. It is pitched as a sit-down, drink-and-chat room rather than a silent one. Its proximity to Deaf Shop makes it the natural second stop, or the first on a Monday to Wednesday when Deaf Shop is shut.

Khun Pik's bistro on Samlarn Road, inside the western wall of the Old City. The slogan is Food, Drink, Vinyl, and the lounge holds Pik's large LP collection with staff who tend the records. Diners pick what plays. There is a garden, the burgers are the menu, and nobody hurries you. Pik's line, as Time Out quotes it: bring your own vinyl next time. Opened in 2025.

Khun Munee's shop in Suthep, opened in early 2023: Thai and Western artists on vinyl and cassette, cheap crates full of Japanese finds, and starter boxes of three LPs for 100 baht to get new collectors going. The back of the shop is the point. A high-end hi-fi runs the width of the wall, with sofas to lean back on and listen; the owner-verified ListenBars entry gives the speakers as Pioneer CS-77A and Diatone DS-36BR, and the programme as post-1950s jazz, fusion, Japanese jazz and 1980s Japanese pop. University students come to learn what analogue sounds like. Not a bar, and daytime only: it is the afternoon before the night.

East of the river on San Pa Koi Road, a laid-back café by day and a cocktail bar by night packed with retro games and consoles, mostly Japanese. DJ Bird brought his vinyl collection over from his former bar, First Press: jazz, funk and city pop at the core, hip-hop, house and electro added since. Some records are for sale. Travelling DJs play styles from funk to drum and bass almost every night, and the bar stools face the decks. Social, loud when it wants to be.

Up a flight above a boutique clothing store on Charoen Prathet Road, near the Night Bazaar. Khun Ae has sold records in the city for five years and opened this shop in 2023: secondhand LPs and new sealed releases across pop, indie, hip-hop and jazz. A small seating area with benches to listen on, and drip coffee. A shop, not a bar; a pin for the afternoon between Thirty Records and the Old City.