from the ibiza sun:
"Afters" Row Continues
The controversial row over opening hours continued through the week as the mayor of San Antonio, Jose Sala, confirmed he would not be supporting the new regulations. His statement came as San Jose, Santa Eulalia and Ibiza Town all approved the new legislation which is set to ensure clubs and bars with a café-concierto licence are unable to open until 4.30p.m.
The measures were put in place to stop the after-hour clubs and discos from opening during the morning, to ensure revellers were unable to continue partying 24-hours a day. The Consell Insular thought the lax legislation which had been in place until now was damaging the image of the island, and forcing family tourism to other destinations. The president, Xico Tarres, therefore decided to introduce legislation which would force the big clubs to close their doors from 6a.m. through until 4.30pm. They hope that this will ensure clubbers have no other option than to return to their hotel or relax on the beach.
While most people are initially in agreement with the idea, the problem comes in the classification of these discos and smaller clubs. At present they are all classified as café-conciertos, and so the new law will also affect all bars with live music, ensuring they will be unable to open until 4.30p.m. This will inevitably cause a problem on days when there are major sporting events during the morning, and would seriously damage family tourism in places like San Antonio, the Bay and Santa Eulalia.
The mayor of San Antonio, Jose Sala, was the first to see the potential problem with after-hour bars and clubs, introducing tough new measures last year. He is, however, also the first to see the stumbling blocks with the potential new legislation. He fears the new law will negatively affect all the pubs and bars with café-concierto licences, which regularly open at midday to serve an expectant public. Fearing a risk to over 60 bars with such a licence, he has backed out of the moves, and promised to keep a similar legislation to that already in place. However he did announce on Thursday he would be introducing a new regulation which would ensure discos with acapacity for over 1,500 people would be forced to close between 6a.m. and 4.30p.m. This would affect the four major clubs within the municipality, and hopefully eradicate the threat of after-hour clubbers partying the day away within San Antonio.
Unfortunately his lead has not been followed by any of the municipalities on the island. San Jose passed legislation on Monday which will ensure discos and bars classified as café-conciertos will be forced to close between 6a.m. and 4.30p.m. This caused panic amongst local businessmen who confirmed the new regulations would have a negative effect on the tourism industry in the area.
The Town Hall of Santa Eulalia has also agreed the new legislation, the first of its kind within the municipality.
Ibiza Town was the next to vote with the Councillor for Tourism, Vicent Ferrer, criticising the stance of San Antonio, saying they would now be the centre of all after-hour activities. He revealed that the initial proposal of the Consell Insular had been to extend closing times until 6p.m, but they had lowered it after fierce disapproval from San Antonio. He found it astonishing that Jose Sala and his administration were now pulling out of the agreement altogether.
The Councillor for Tourism for San Juan, Jaume Mari, said although the agreement had not yet been approved in his constituency, they were behind the new proposals. He continued that while they did not themselves have any after-hour bars, they thought a united front by all mayors was the most appropriate way to fight the threat, and said a similar stand against illegal parties would help eradicate problems they had faced in Benirras and other areas of San Juan.
by arkspice on Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:43 pm
