His greatest ever customer, he agreed, was a German who entered in the bar in the early 90s, wearing just shorts, sandals, a simple shirt and cap.

After a while, his staff began to wonder if the man had the capacity to pay for drinks he was buying a small group of ladies who had befriended him.

After a polite inquiry, the man produced a credit card which staff checked and found no problems with. What they didn't know was this intriguing chap had inherited a large family fortune.

Shortly after, Eddy swung into action. He rang the bell - free drinks for everyone. Then he rang it again. In fact, he kept at it all evening.

Pretty soon, people started coming in from the other bars. Something unusual was going on and they didn't want to miss out.

By the end of the night the bell-ringer had shouted so many drinks there was barely space for them on the bar.

His total bill? About half a million baht - or US$20,000 in one evening.

The joke is, it carried on the very next evening. One farang journalist, a long-time resident in Thailand, was on hand when Eddy returned.

Not surprisingly, he said, a huge crowd awaited the German. "The place was packed when he walked in, at about 7.30pm," he said. "But shortly after, he walked up and rang the bell - the place erupted with a huge roar."

It's a famous bar, with a history of many crazy liquid days. But the German has yet to be topped on ringing the bell.

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