Bangkok's about to lose another nightlife icon, with Ekkamai's after-hours haunt Dark Bar set to close by Jun 3.

Owner Nodnuanwan “Nod” Tatong says Dark Bar is shutting down permanently as a result of police enforcing a midnight closing time on the venue since January.  

"The bar usually gets packed from 12:30am onwards, so it was never going to work," Nod told us. 

For over two years, Dark Bar has served as a breeding ground for Bangkok's underground electronic music scene. With its raw and edgy decor, decent prices, and exciting music lineups playing long into the night, it provided a marked contrast to the city's more glamorous nightclubs.

Nod said a lot of people have tried to convince her to open another bar elsewhere, but she's decided against it for the time being as the closure has hit her hard.  

"I really wanted to support the nightlife scene here. I did it purely from the love of it. But there's no support at all from the system. I'm very upset about this but I have to move on," she said.

The bar has plenty of parties scheduled up until their closing night (see more at www.fb.com/darkbarbangkok), with an official closing party in the works. While there are no plans for Dark Bar 2.0 just yet, Nod hasn't ruled out putting on Dark Bar-style events at various bars around Bangkok.

The loss of Dark Bar is another big blow for underground music and Bangkok nightlife in general. Last year also saw the end of The Overground and Moose, two other big supporters of local music. The closure of such bars will surely have a knock-on effect for our local bands and DJs (read more on this topic in our recent piece, Here's why Bangkok's bars are closing and what it means for our live music scene).

Dark Bar's nearby sister venue, Light Room, will also close on Jun 3.

Dark Bar, 2/F, Ekamai Mall, Ekkamai Soi 10, 092-446-6298