West End- Review (from someone who is not a fan)

C

coopey

New Member
Okay, I've stayed in Sant Antoni before, I've visited the West End before, and it's generally not my cup-of-tea. You could go as far as to say that I'm one of those elitist snobs who turns their nose up at the West End; actually that might be overdoing it a bit, but you get the picture- I'm not a fan. But, I thought instead of writing how Meganite was wicked, Armada closing was fantastic or Cream was excellent as usual, I thought- "let's do a mini-review of the 'West End'." I've tried to be as unbiased as possible with the bar & club reviews, and tried to enter the 'West End' with an open mind, giving it a clean slate as it were, and blocking out some of the common conceptions one generally labels the area with. So, here goes:

West End Observations (rough estimations)
Gender:
Males: 65%, Females: 34%, WTF?! 1%

Age:
under-20: 35%
21-25: 30%
26-30: 20%
31-40: 10%
41-50: 4%
51-60: 1%
61+over: >1%

Nationality:
Rough estimation of nationalities most-to-least numerous (English and Irish accounted for at least 80% of people in the area)

English, Irish
Spanish, Scottish, German
Welsh, Dutch
American, Belgian

also met people who were: Danish, French, Canadian, Swiss, Swedish, Italian, Australian

Observations based on common misconceptions:
Number of fights seen: 0
Number of police officers seen: 2 (on a seemingly-routine patrol)
Number of people being sick: 1
Noisiest Nationality: Irish (not English!)

Club & Bar reviews:
Rated out of ten for:
Music- style, volume, etc
DJ (for clubs)- response to crowd, quality of mixing, etc
Entertainment (for bars)- eg pool table, karaoke!
Dance Floor- size, how much you're able to move
Atmosphere- the general vibe of the place
Crowd- age, nationality and friendliness of the other customers
Drinks- value, choice, freebies?
PR Staff- how non-pushy they are
Bar Staff- speed, friendliness
Presentation- general look of the place, how clean & tidy it is
Toilets!- would YOU dump in a dump?

Then score out of 100 is given, plus a comment from the missus from the place in question...

Star Club: 57%
5/10 Music- was okay, could dance to it, varied between house, funky house, more commercial dance and pop
9/10 DJ- near-flawless mixing, when there was a crowd he read their mood beautifully and adjusted to it
9/10 Dance Floor- nice size for a WE club
2/10 Atmosphere- practically empty we were helping drag people in at one point
7/10 Crowd- decent mixture, no morons. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Welsh, Spanish
3/10 Drinks- nothing outstanding and pricey for what they were. free cocktail and shots were awful
6/10 PR Staff- polite and friendly
4/10 Bar Staff- resonably quick, but is that because there wasn't much to do?
5/10 Presentation- club itself was good, but the bar was awash with spilt drinks
7/10 Toilets- quite clean and large
57/100 "would be so much better, if they had more people!"

Koppas: 63%
8/10 Music- some good tunes, some not too bad but the crowd was up for it
8/10 DJ- another talented DJ
5/10 Dance Floor- quite small & cramped, not much room
8/10 Atmosphere- good atmos. always busy, crowd up for it. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Irish, Scotish
6/10 Crowd- mainly under 25s, majority there to dance, couple of old geezers on the edge eyeing up the women
5/10 Drinks- again nothing special, free shots were a bit nicer though
6/10 PR Staff- polite and friendly
3/10 Bar Staff- slow, slow, slow
7/10 Presentation- a bit nicer than Star Club
6/10 Toilets- cleaner than most
63/100 "not bad- but don't drink anything red!"

Ground Zero: 49%
1/10 Music- a break from dance but rock seems so out of place here
5/10 DJ- since I'm not 'in to' this sort of music, I'm not really qualified to comment
6/10 Dance Floor- plenty of space
7/10 Atmosphere- goot atmosh- but the music...
5/10 Crowd- felt out of place, looked out of place- kept getting the knowing "you don't belong here, huh?" looks. Top 3 Nationalities: English, American, Spanish
5/10 Drinks- nothing special
10/10 PR Staff- there didn't seem to be one
1/10 Bar Staff- very slow
5/10 Presentation- not bad, biased towards the style of music
4/10 Toilets, didn't look too healthy, but usable
49/100 "why are we here?"

Play2: 57%
8/10 Music- varies from night-to-night see what's on before you go, good balearicesque-house the night I went
9/10 DJ- excellent
6/10 Dance Floor- okay size, but far too cramped
5/10 Atmosphere- some people were there for the music, quite a lot were standing around looking miserable
4/10 Crowd- a bit depressed, Top 3 Nationalities: English, Irish, German
4/10 Drinks- again similar selection to elsewhere. Freebies failed to arrive.
7/10 PR Staff- might've been a bouncer actually, quite amusing and friendly
5/10 Bar Staff- reasonably quick despite it being quite busy
6/20 Presentation- nice, but smokey
3/10 Toilets- somebody had been sick there- yuk!
57/100 "well the ladies' was okay!"

SoulCity: 55%
2/10 Music- RnB, Garage, Hip-Hop, etc. seems out of place to me- but this place was rammed
6/10 DJ- not bad, my son
6/10 Dance Floor- good size, too busy, so not really a 'dance' floor
9/10 Atmosphere- everybody was there for a good time and seemed to be really enjoying themselves
8/10 Crowd- some decent ladies ;) Top 3 Nationalities: English, Irish, American
5/10 Drinks- again nowt special
3/10 PR Staff- too pushy
4/10 Bat staff- okay, but too busy to cope properly
8/10 Presentation- a well presented, clean club
4/10 Toilets- looked clean, smelt awful
55/100 "Oh, god"

Joe Spoon's Irish Bar: 58%
4/10 Music- cheesey 80s stuff, with some good tunes
0/10 Entertainment- where's the dude they had last year gone?!
5/10 Dance Floor- lots of room if you fancy a jig along to Madonna
7/10 Atmosphere- very friendly and upbeat, ruined by some rowdy young lands
6/10 Crowd- slightly older that the rest of the WE Top 3 Nationalities: English, Irish, Welsh
8/10 Drinks- well priced, some good cocktails
8/10 PR Staff- very friendly and chatty
8/10 Bar Staff- fast and friendly
6/10 Presentation- what you'd expect from an Irish bar!
6/10 Toilets- quite clean
58/100 "Bloody English kids!"

Golden Gate?: 36%
3/10 Music- generic rubbish
0/10 Entertainment- unless you like watching shirtless guys drink
1/10 Dance Floor- this category may not seem fair when applied to bars- but there was not much room
2/10 Atmosphere- alright, but always felt like it could turn
1/10 Crowd- shirtless guys lookinging like they're eying up potetial targets Top 3 Nationalities: English, Irish
7/10 Drinks- similar choice, but very cheap
10/10 PR Staff- no PR Staff (that I encountered) wins points
4/10 Bar Staff- quite slow
4/10 Presentation- nowt to write home about
2/10 Toilets- didn't enter smelt so bad from the doorway that I 'held on'
36/100 "Where are we going next? When are we going?"

Trop's Disco: 73%
8/10 Music- Funky House, House, some other tunes in for good measure
7/10 DJ- good
9/10 Dance Floor- decent size for WE club quite full but still space to moooove
7/10 Atmosphere- upbeat, everybody quite friednly
7/10 Crowd- mainly people in their 20s, Top 3 Nationalities: English, Spanish, Irish
6/10 Drinks- usual selections, free shots were okay
7/10 PR Staff- were not too upset to be joked around with, friendly, not pushy
6/10 Bar Staff- quick service but not very chatty
8/10 Presentation- well presented club
8/10 Toilets- quite clean, but crowded
73/100 "I liked having a dance!"

Capones Video Bar: 60%
4/10 Music- RnB with a few dance tracks thrown in every now and again
10/10 Entertainment- CONNECT FOUR MACHINE!
3/10 Dance Floor- no room, nobody was really moving
7/10 Atmosphere- very friendly and upbeat atmos
6/10 Crowd- most were friendly, a few Scottish girls thought it okay to just shove people out of their way if it was blocked. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Scottish, Irish
6/10 Drinks- a little more variation than most
6/10 PR Staff- friendly, although a little pushy
9/10 Bar Staff- very fast, very friendly and chatty
6/10 Presentation- okay, a few bottles on the floor and it took a while for glasses to be collected
3/10 Toilets- didn't viste the gents but apparently the ladies' was rank
60/100 "I got a free hat!!!"

Highlander: 68%
6/10 Music- dancey with a few decent tunes
8/10 DJ- good
4/10 Dance Floor- decent size but too crowded
9/10 Atmosphere- somthing in the air here- everybody seemed to be buzzing
6/10 Crowd- 16-22s here. Top 3 Nationalities: Scottish, Irish, Welsh
6/10 Drinks- same as most- free shots were among the best
8/10 PR Staff- might've been one of the bar saff, however very friendly
8/10 Bar Staff- considering the place was rammed, very quick
7/10 Presentation- quite clean and tidy
6/10 Toilets- not bad
68/100 "but we're not Scottish?!"

Delilah's Welsh Bar: 41%
5/10 Music- dance tunes, intersected with the dreaded...
3/10 Entertainment- kareoke! (sp?) the only resaon it doesn't get a 0 was that when Welsh people get up and sing, we do stuff like Tom Jones, which we're good at, or cheesey 70s pop- which is hilarious- ABBA in a Merthyr accent? Wonderful stuff.
1/10 Dance Floor- a tiny space if you want it
10/10 Atmosphere- I don't think you can beat it here
5/10 Crowd- 18-25, spoilt by some noisy Irish people. Top 3 Nationalities: Welsh, Irish, Scottish
4/10 Drinks- same general selection, but some bottles had sold out!
1/10 PR Staff- invited us in for a 'wicked' shot which was crap, got covered in pink liquid from the machine. Gets a point for actually getting us in.
7/10 Bar Staff- quick, friendly
4/10 Presentation- all the tables are wet pretty much constantly, the floor is the stickiest
1/10 Toilets- stay away!
41/100 "that bloody liar- that shot was crap! this pink s**t better come out"

The Last Drop?: 45%
4/10 Music- usualy MoS compilation album stuff, quite quiet
5/10 Entertainment- test your reflexes machine is it here, a 5 is given because you don't come here for anything other that a laid-back drink before heading somewhere livelier perhaps
5/10 Dance Floor- no dance floor- but that's not what you're here to do
5/10 Atmosphere- subdued, quite chilled
5/10 Crowd- generally around 18/19. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Scottish, Canadian
5/10 Drinks- same old, same old
7/10 PR Staff- very energetic!
6/10 Bar staff- quick, friendly
1/10 Presentation- not that clean- very large cockroaches spotted!
2/10 Toilets- quite rank
45/100 "cockroach! this big! sure it was drinking Guiness"

Bar opposite The Last Drop (can't remember name, sorry): 62%
6/10 Music- apart from overplaying 'Call on Me' was okay.
7/10 Entertainment- pool table! kareoke was a downer though
5/10 Dance Floor- no floor as such but plenty of space to dance
6/10 Atmosphere- young and lively crowd
6/10 Crowd- 16-20. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Scottish, Welsh.
7/10 Drinks- similar selection, quite cheap. Free shots were okay.
6/10 PR Staff- frienly guy, not pushy at all- had some help from some English guys who thought they could do the job better
7/10 Bar Staff- fast & friendl
6/10 Presentation- quite clean, glasses took a while to get collected though
6/10 Toilets- not bad
62/100 "stop looking at that blonde girl in the blue dress!!!"

English Bar with millions of football shirts on ceiling (don't remember name again, sorry!): 64%
6/10 Music- okay tunes
4/10 Entertainment- just a relfex machine and giant screen for footie
0/10 Dance Floor- no room at all!
8/10 Atmosphere- warm and welcoming
6/10 Crowd- good mixture of young and old- but 30-pluses didn't seem to want to talk to anybody under 30. Top 3 Nationalities: English, Welsh, Spanish
9/10 Drinks- good selection- fantastic shots. good value. Stella on tap!
10/10 PR Staff- none at all!
9/10 Bar Staff- very fast and friendly. Girl who's worked there for a couple of years is well-fit.
6/10 Presentation- looks boring, but is well kept.
4/10 Toilets- a bit dingey
64/100 "which one wanted to shag you?"

The Village Inn: 80% (located in the street that runs parallel to the main one, on the east side)
6/10 Music- not bad, a large selection of compilations on CD!
8/10 Entertainment- pool table provided
5/10 Dance Floor- not needed here, traditional English sort of pub
9/10 Atmosphere- quality!
7/10 Crowd- quite young, early 20s? had a couple of chavs in briefly. Top 2(!) Nationalities: English, Welsh
8/10 Drinks- Stella on tap! (Gets a bouns point)
10/10 PR Staff- one of the best
8/10 Bar Staff- quick and friendly- poor hearing though!
9/10 Presnetation- very clean, looks very Village-Inny :)
10/10 Toilets- by far the cleanest and best-kept toilets in the WE
80/100 "The Yogi song was funny"

There are few other bars not mentioned here that I went to, but do not remember sufficient detail, and one-or-two that I didn't go to (time & blood-alcohol level constraints). But if you're out on a W'ender this (plus Plastik) will probably cover all the places you're likely to visit (the majority are on the main carrer).

Generally, the night was fun- the majority of people were friendly and chatty and if I go to Sant Antoni again I probably would visit the Village Inn and Trop's again- the amount you save is great. However, the West End doesn't offer an experience that you couldn't get in a British city centre at the weekend- while it's okay for one or two nights, if anybody came on holiday to Ibiza, just to go here every night I'd tell them they were wasting their money.

I'm going to put a hotel review up shortly, but for now, good night. :)
 
i don't see how you can be unbiased when you give a place 1 from 10 because it plays rock and 8 because it plays house.

however as a review it works because at least you tell us what to expect - not just the usual 'the west end is rubbish' nonsense.

interestingly - if i had scored my one and only trip to pacha the other week similarly - it would have got less than ground zero!
(fancy playing the same record over and over all night!)
 
Makes a change to read a review about the West End.

Contratulations on an interesting and well researched review.
 
stephen said:
i don't see how you can be unbiased when you give a place 1 from 10 because it plays rock and 8 because it plays house.

however as a review it works because at least you tell us what to expect - not just the usual 'the west end is rubbish' nonsense.
Click to expand...

I said I would try to be unbiased. :)
Although I would say there probably is an amount of persoanl bias on the music scores. For this I've tried to sum up how much it got me wanting to move, and how much it seemed to be having that effect on others in the same place. Rock really doesn't do it for me, and there was only a few people really getting into it and dancing when I went, I've tried to reflect that, although some personal bias may have crept in perhaps (it is human nature after all!).

This is why I've given comments (even though they may be brief). At least someone can see I've that, for example, I've scored Soul City low for it's music because it doesn't get me going- someone may come across this review in a search and say "that's exactly what I'm looking for, why has this idiot scored it so low?!".

I went to Release Youself @ Pacha- not much going on when I went, the sections of the dance floor with people in were pretty motionless- I probably would've scored it quite low this year too...
 
Just curious of why no review of Plastik?? If you've read my posts since I've been back, you know I"m a huge fan of the place... in the West End but absolutely nothing like the other places there. Did you not go there on your West End night?
 
Good to see an indepth review of the west end- very brave of you! It is good to see someone going in there with an open mind.
I would like to share my experience of the west end in that my boyfriend and i walked through the west end one evening- it was unavoidable because we were staying in san an and we were walking through to get the bus to pacha from mambo.
On a roughly ten minute walk we saw 3 fights (i kid you not) the most vilant of which was outside the amsterdam bar where chairs and bottles were being smashed over peoples heads and the guardia civil were there in force. we came on holiday to get away from this chav nonsence!
And how annoying were the PA's? We found that if you dressed the part though they usually left you alone as they knew you wouldnt be frequenting there establishment. One annoying cockney chappy PA for Koppas had to persist though-
"where are u going?"
"Pacha mate"
"ahh, nah, wouldnt bother- waste of money. Trust me, ive been on the island all summer and the best club here is ES paradis, trust me i know, ive been here a long time."
hmmm. Yes, yes it is.
I did pop into plastik while we were there, and i agree- fab music, fab decor- not ur average west end bar as we were lounging on the leather sofas but the one problem we had was when dancing a LOT of men were cracking on to my boyfriend, which is not a problem in itself but they were quite aggressive about it!!! so for once it was me saving him from leachy men not the other way round which was quite amusing!
The weste end was full of kids- and that sounds rich from me but i felt old there and im 20 years old!
But all in all west end still a no-go area for me im afraid!
 
I stayed in PDB last year and thought being stuck in san an would be my idea of hell.. but ended up there this year as it was a last minute thing...

have to say i really enjoyed myself.. i went knowing what to expect.. took things as they were and had a laugh. if i wanted to leave i got on one of the buses that left every 15 min and went to ibiza town.

We didnt see one fight, although did see one guy covered in blood, who looked like he may have been in a fight, and i also had to put a guy in the recovery position, after he had falled flat on his face and been knocked out. apart from that i didnt see any nastiness.

the highlander is a great bar, we drank there every night of our holiday.. very friendly staff, and great atmosphere. Am looking forward to getting back next year.
 
i hated the west end wen i was ova in ibiza. it was full of 2 many ppl, places like Bar M and Itaca are so much beta altho they are a lot more expensive, but they get my vote everytime
 
stephen said:
if i had scored my one and only trip to pacha the other week similarly - it would have got less than ground zero!
Click to expand...
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:



great work coopey (although some of your comments about soul city and ground zero seem so out of place ;) )..........

IMG_0198.jpg
<--- oi!! :eek:
 
i myself like everything about ibiza that i have seen so far so much 2 do and a mixture of nightlife :) the west end was ok 4 me as lots of places 2 go :)
 
I have a soft spot for the West End- it reminds me of my errant youth, when (for the first two years) I went 18-30 when I went to the island. On every subsequent visit I try to spend at least one night there- it sort of 'grounds' me and makes me grateful for the rest of the island. 8)
 
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