2014 The Quietest Season in the west end

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I've heard and read a few DJ's in Ibiza who do the big nights saying Ibiza is better then ever recently. Just proves how dis-attached they are, although while they enjoy the lime light and VIP treatment then I guess they really believe it's getting better.
 
JackofClubs said:
This is probably the most interesting point of the whole thread from my point of view.

It would appear that in many cases today's West End-dwelling beer monsters are tomorrow's "quality" clubbers.
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er ... mmm ... well .... I try not to judge a person by their habits too much. Unless they're Rolf 'Arris. But many of today's "quality" clubbers (and I use that term extremely loosely given the state "one" might be seen in, falling out of Amnesia at 8am after a sneaky "afters" when KM5 got quiet) have happily sunk pints and shots all over the island. It's the current younger generation who seem to want to compartmentalize themselves into sectors. A bit like those Trivial Pursuit thingys with the coloured triangles. 20 years ago there wasn't so much choice and most people went most places at some point in the end.
 
for whats it worth, we walked passed west end last night after sunset and it was ok busy (didnt actually go inside any place so really cant comment how they are doing)...but not as busy as i've seen before...not so many people working the street we noticed. However, down PDB is very very busy. Ibiza Town is crammed.
 
I worked at peppers and a few bars in the west end years ago and everywhere used to be heaving from opening to closing. It was really difficult to get hold of tickets for the big clubs unless you got them in advance. drinks were a lot cheaper, but there were more crimes committed, fighting, puke, drugs etc. just hope a balance in everything can be found soon before its too late
 
i like it here, its really pretty, but i have to be honest, ibiza has done well to do this good for so long, whoever sold this mystic magic budha lives here island (half an hour from benidorm) to the masses deserves a medal. I think the beauty of the island is its biggest selling point, and the druggy scummy club scene and that vip towie nonsense is its worse and they should cut that tie asap. When you walk around san an and pdb, you could be anywhere else in spain, sports bars, beach ball shops and tacky tired restaurants etc, many of these places have taken the money out and have not budgeted for refurbs maybe and the governemnt should help them freshen up?? I am on my third season here working but i wouldn't come here in its current state for a holiday, its far too expensive for whats on offer and if you dont like superstar dj spotty foreign kid, your night life is limited to large groups of samey bars. I think things will improve here, i think the hotel chains will acquire the decent sized bars and utilize them for their guests who maybe want all inc but want to give the kiddy disco and parrot show a wide berth and offer something better than what the previous owners and neighbours do?

so dont worry guys things will get better, but you have to realize nothing stays the same, its time for a bit of a refurb and re think in many areas maybe?

cheers

kev
 
I don't really understand what you think San An/PDB should look like? there are bucket and spade shops because there's a beach? It looks like anywhere else in Spain because it's part of Spain..

Should it look like Thailand, or Antarctica, or the moon?
 
It's a shame Andy's gone, he seemed decent. That said, he seemed to conflate his personal work situation with the health of the island, or perhaps just the West End.

I hope he's had some more sleep, a few decent meals and will be back in Ibiza on holiday soon.

IMO, it's genuinely not as good as it used to be. It might be if I was in my mid-20s though. I was over on a stag do in mid-July and it looked the same as ever to me. We never made it out of San An because of the nature of the trip, but it was busy and we had a whale of a time.
 
It's a shame Andy's gone, he seemed decent. That said, he seemed to conflate his personal work situation with the health of the island, or perhaps just the West End.

I hope he's had some more sleep, a few decent meals and will be back in Ibiza on holiday soon.

IMO, it's genuinely not as good as it used to be. It might be if I was in my mid-20s though. I was over on a stag do in mid-July and it looked the same as ever to me. We never made it out of San An because of the nature of the trip, but it was busy and we had a whale of a time.
 
kevin said:
i like it here, its really pretty, but i have to be honest, ibiza has done well to do this good for so long, whoever sold this mystic magic budha lives here island (half an hour from benidorm) to the masses deserves a medal. I think the beauty of the island is its biggest selling point, and the druggy scummy club scene and that vip towie nonsense is its worse and they should cut that tie asap. When you walk around san an and pdb, you could be anywhere else in spain, sports bars, beach ball shops and tacky tired restaurants etc, many of these places have taken the money out and have not budgeted for refurbs maybe and the governemnt should help them freshen up?? I am on my third season here working but i wouldn't come here in its current state for a holiday, its far too expensive for whats on offer and if you dont like superstar dj spotty foreign kid, your night life is limited to large groups of samey bars. I think things will improve here, i think the hotel chains will acquire the decent sized bars and utilize them for their guests who maybe want all inc but want to give the kiddy disco and parrot show a wide berth and offer something better than what the previous owners and neighbours do?

so dont worry guys things will get better, but you have to realize nothing stays the same, its time for a bit of a refurb and re think in many areas maybe?

cheers

kev
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I see your point of view. Sankey's should do this!

How come there is no mambo in pdb?
Or
Cafe del mar in figuretas
Or really cool parties like the one enter throws at times in Delano?
Thrown by smaller bars with relatively big name DJs.
I agree
..there is only so many times one can enjoy Murphy's, dunes or joints that are alike.

The big clubs just keep getting bigger and the small bars just stay boring and unchanged. That is why people come here to ask for "cool" bars and places.
Amante, es vive etc aren't really cutting edge. Although good choices.
 
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Pancho said:
I don't really understand what you think San An/PDB should look like? there are bucket and spade shops because there's a beach? It looks like anywhere else in Spain because it's part of Spain..

Should it look like Thailand, or Antarctica, or the moon?
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Maybe it should look like Ibiza.
Not even Majorca is the same.
What about Sevilla or Bilbao?

Is Glasgow England?
 
This is my point about it looking like anywhere else in Spain, , the normal working people that think that they are a bit up market, those who come here to live here long term , they chose to struggle and pay 1200 euros PCM for a flat that they could rent on mainland Spain for 375 PCM, they hold down minimum wage jobs in order to eek it out here, yet refuse to belive that they could have an equally nice life elsewhere in Spain, I don't see what the attraction is for them, another slap on the back for the magical mystical marketing company of Ibiza?. So I am not talking about kids on holiday with loads of cash, I am talking about adults with kids who don't go the clubs, everything that is available here with the exception of the clubs, is available to an equal or higher standard on mainland Spain at a third of the price. Ok so David guetta is on brewsters and you have to pay 80 quid to see him, it's 75 too much IMHO, but I get that, but let's not discuss that for a minute, Spain is on it's arse, wages are low, so why is everything apart from booze in Ibiza so expensive, a tatty flat 800 PCM, and the landlord thinks he is doing you a favour, oh it's Ibiza, pie and chips, all six chips that is, 13 euros, because it's Ibiza? why do people stand for this nonsense, Spain is supposed to be a place for a cheap holiday, clubs aside, Ibiza is no better than any other resort I have lived in and maybe that's why certain areas are suffering, maybe people are waking up to the fact that it is just seaside Spain, and parts of it are a bit scruffy not magic scruffy, or mystic scruffy, just plain scruffy and tired.

As for all this VIP nonsense, is this what drives the local economy out of control, if you have to pay to sit in VIP, then you can't be that bloody important.

I have not come on here to annoy anyone, sorry if i have.
 
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Just got back and have to agree it is much quieter than previous years in the West End, but don't worry it isn't a ghost town. The well established bars that have been there for ages and offer good drinks and atmosphere are still doing well, its the cheap and nasty 'change their name every summer' bars that are dead. The bright spot is that the sunset strip seems busier than ever, Mambo's in particular seem to be going from strength to strength with Fatboy Slim, Martin Garrix and Guetta being amongst the acts there just this week.

that said San An does have issues that it needs to solve before its long term future starts to look a bit gloomy. The town has always been a 'rough and ready' party town, and with the northern resorts catering for the families, Ibiza Town occupying the celebs and Bossa appealing to a more upmarket and continental crowd, San An has to stay true to its roots as I am convinced there is still a market for it.

However the town is looking dirtier than ever, with bin collections looking like they've become less frequent (I assume budget cuts) and a stench of rotting litter, urine and sick. This is a simple thing for the town to fix.

The 'hassle' in the resort is getting worse and worse, I can tolerate being offered drugs, sex, drink deals etc at 2am...but not in the middle of the day! if I pop to town to get some food during the day I now walk down the backstreets to avoid the constant interruptions of boat party sellers, lucky lucky men, those African woman near the egg who drag you down the beach...it isn't a pleasant town to walk about in anymore and this needs to change.

its also not helping the town that Gatecrasher is in complete disarray, and even Es Paradis has seen better days. I can't think of anyone who plans to end their night there anymore, maybe for the Water Party and that is it. Whereas just a few years ago you had the likes of Pete Tong headlining Eden! Even Ibiza Rocks' lineup has been very lacklustre this year. Instead people now drink in their rooms and then taxi out of town to Amnesia, Space & Pacha, and even earlier if they are going to Zoo Project or Ushuaia, depriving San An of their cash.

finally the resort needs to encourage the development of better, more upmarket hotels. I don't mean the pretentious VIP style ones that are springing up in Bossa, just modern 3/4* accommodation where the air-con works, the pool area isn't one big stag or hen party and you don't risk electrocution sticking your phone on charge!
 
Is the whole west end just an out dated model though, these strips full of cheesy bars offering all you can drink for x amount, is all very 80's! I remember when I first went to Ibiza, it was an 18-30s holiday, looking back it was mega cringy, but because I was young, we went along with some of their 'excursions' one of which included a bar crawl up the west end! Into one bar, stayed for 30 minutes then onto the next! It also makes me thing of a video I saw on youtube a while back, from the 80's these group of lads are on a boys holiday, shows them doing a bar crawl along the west end, then ending up (an open air!) Es Paradise singing knees up mother brown! Its all very Brits abroad on the piss, which I haven't personally got a problem with, but is that starting to lose its appeal?

To me its all a bit dated, and without sounding snobby, I feel I'm a bit above that now, I would much rather go to a nicer bar before heading out clubbing, unfortunatly, there aren't any in the West End!
 
I think Ibizainside has it right there 2 posts up... I think the Westend is a product of the british influence on tourism (as can be seen in many places / islands). But Ibiza has become alot more international recently and perhaps that model is starting to fade compared to years before??

In the age where everyone can work out what lineups are on before they even go , they don't need a rep / worker to tell them whats on etc. The west end is comparitively cheap yet still its quiet . Young 'San An' crowd now want to go to what were underground now overground nights instead of westend then end up in eden etc...

People cant afford new pdb prices so still stay in san an but maybe spend less time there?
 
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I think we all have to accept that times and our expectations change, and I think this place has so many positives about it that it can only change for the better. When I first came here back in 84 ish a typical night out involved watching live music at the flash bar and legs akimbo in the place which i think was next door, then off to an outside garden place, ideas? I think it was called, I recall eating a few meals in the 14 nights but not many, I am not sure if there was clubs like the way they are now, we were just on the hunt for women, and didn't have to look that hard or pay to get in and get at them , we didn't care who the DJ was as long as he played decent tunes, I can imagine these days if you meet a nice girl in a club and have to buy her and her mates a drink plus your own, it must be pretty heart breaking.

As for all those 18 to 30'pub crawls, do the young ones still need a rep to show you to a bar? I thought they had iOS apps for that

Kev
 
Exactly, slightly off topic but I remember some holidays I went on when I was younger, where you had to meet the rep in the morning, and they would tell you want excursions there were, along with what club nights etc, I went to Magaluf when I was 18, and we were advised by the rep not to go to Cream at BCM, but instead go to Miss Moneypennys there on another night! Being naive we went along with it, even though we knew Cream played the music we liked, and Moneypennys was a bit, for want of another word, gay!

I dont think this happens anymore, its not required, we are not all lost souls when we arrive in a foreign country anymore, we all have the internet on our phones, can do research before hand etc.

So anyway, back on point, the West End I feel has always catered for this crowd, holiday makers arriving in San Anotonio (because thats where they were sold as being the lively place to be) and not wanting to wonder too far in a strange country. Now we have disco buses, good taxi services, people hiring cars more, people want to get out and see more, and not just go to the bar on the corner every night!

The West End is a product of mass tourism, and the beer swigging culture that foreign countries think we like (which we do!), I'm not sure when it started being the way it is, but I imagine during the 80's...

I would of loved to have seen San Antonio before the British invasion!
 
ibizainside said:
Is the whole west end just an out dated model though, these strips full of cheesy bars offering all you can drink for x amount, is all very 80's! I remember when I first went to Ibiza, it was an 18-30s holiday, looking back it was mega cringy, but because I was young, we went along with some of their 'excursions' one of which included a bar crawl up the west end! Into one bar, stayed for 30 minutes then onto the next! It also makes me thing of a video I saw on youtube a while back, from the 80's these group of lads are on a boys holiday, shows them doing a bar crawl along the west end, then ending up (an open air!) Es Paradise singing knees up mother brown! Its all very Brits abroad on the piss, which I haven't personally got a problem with, but is that starting to lose its appeal?

To me its all a bit dated, and without sounding snobby, I feel I'm a bit above that now, I would much rather go to a nicer bar before heading out clubbing, unfortunatly, there aren't any in the West End!
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On a similar note to some of these comments, i can't imagine using a travel agents to book my trips to Ibiza and having some stranger at her desk telling me where i should stay or what i should do when i get there etc etc....

I book all my trips myself and know exactly where i'm going, what i'm going to be doing, how i'm going to do it etc etc...
 
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