Me and my wife visited this place after having a meal further up the street in Chiang Mai, only wanting a couple of drinks to end what had been a quiet night. As we approached the bar the security staff near the entrance initially let...me pass, then (unknown to me until 30 seconds later) stopped my wife. By this point I had already ordered a beer from a waitress (as the outside of the bar was quiet and she spotted me as soon as I walked up). I returned to the entrance to see what was happening and my wife had been stopped and not allowed in, and we couldn't understand why - my wife doesn't drink so it couldn't have been due to being drunk, and we're 38 and 35, so didn't think it was an age thing. In broken English the security staff kept saying "mobile phone" and pointing at our pockets, but we'd left our mobile phones in the hotel security box and didn't have them. I then emptied my pockets to show that all I has was my wallet. It was at this point that they pointed out the door - i.e. that we weren't allowed in - and started to physically push us away. We were completely dumbstruck. At almost the same time the waitress wandered over with my beer and to top it all off they then tried to charge me, even though they wouldn't let me in or give me the beer!
I appreciate this sounds like we were trouble-makers, but we were both sober (my wife doesn't drink, and I think I'd had 2 beers) and we had just walked up to have a drink. We'd no idea what was going on, and the way they handled it was appalling, pointing at us, pushing us around.
Note: we've since been advised that it's common in Thailand for Thai people to take a photo of their ID on their phone (so they don't lose their ID on a night out) and use that to prove their age, so we can only assume that this is what they meant and they wanted to see ID for my wife. However even if true to then forcibly push us away when it was clear we were just confused it completely unacceptable. We have friends that live in Thailand that have advised that security staff in places like this do have a terrible reputation, and I can say that this was the only blemish on an otherwise fabulous holiday... so maybe it was just bad luck.More