San Antonio Bans PR’s and Street Parades

San Antonio’s West End

In a clear sign of things to come, San Antonio’s Mayor Jose Tur “Cires” has flexed his muscles and followed in Ibiza Town’s footsteps and announced an indefinite ban on ‘dynamic advertising’ specifically public relation workers (i.e. those who convince tourists to drink in certain premises) and street parades where groups of people walk along advertising clubs, bars & events. 

The official reason is to “improve coexistence in the town” citing that this type of advertising takes place in public spaces and has a negative impact “on the environment, on the right of citizens freedom of movement and that it damages the image of the town with constant harassment of tourists”. 
Mayor Tur has signed the decree suspending all new requests and renewals of licenses stating clearly that “failure to comply with this decree will result in the initiation of disciplinary proceedings”.

With other problems in the municipality some British bar owners have questioned whether the town hall has got its priorities right. One bar owner told me “it seems that the more legitimate you try to be the more you get pulled down or the more you have to pay. That just encourages people to play dirty games and flout the law breeding more underhand ways of doing things and fueling the very people causing the problems in the first place”

Another said “No legal PRs at all is the wrong move while there are 100s of illegals. It’s perhaps the logical step after the illegals have been eliminated, but not before, it’s’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water. There are far more pressing problems that need addressing that affect our town’s image such as lookys, pickpockets, prostitutes, these are much higher on the list that public relation issues. Why are these not being tackled first?”

Not all bar owners think it’s a bad thing with one commenting “this island used to work very well without PRs and ticket sellers” whereas as another said “they will be banning fun next”. 

photo: essential ibiza

Author: Martin Makepeace

Englishman living and working in Ibiza since 1991. Entrepreneur with a passion for villas, boats, sunsets and San Antonio. Read my blogs, listen to my podcasts and get involved in the debate.

20 thoughts on “San Antonio Bans PR’s and Street Parades”

  1. I gotta say I agree with your comment about the looky lookies and prostitutes this is surely a more pressing problem

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    1. I’ve had commented on one of my posts saying the pr’s are just doing they’re job….
      This is true , although illegally…..
      I’m not against legal pr’s being able to work and in turn the licenses make a lot of money for the town hall…. But I am strongly against illegal workers roaming the streets…. Whatever they are ‘selling’…. Some people pay a lot of money to be able to license themselves and they see hundreds if not thousands of people ignoring the ‘law’ completely ???
      I also don’t blame the youngsters that come here looking for work… We need to start with the establishments who ’employ’ these ‘workers’ !!!!

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  2. Do you think this will really stand?
    I think the bars will just end up with a bunch of illegals – maybe at least until someone gets caught and fined!

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  3. For me it simply all comes down to policing. Last year the police only drove down the west end at the different closing times to fine the bars who were still open, allowing all the “illegals” (prs, lookys, etc) to operate freely. If they properly enfore this then it levels the playing field for all the owners, however history suggests this is highly unlikely and certain bars that already flout the rules and have 30+ illegal prs will grow even more. Another issue is that san an is reliant on the young worker community which predominately work as prs, ticket sellers etc will disappear, perhaps not this year, but certainly the year after if the ban continues. This takes alot of income out of the town eg apartments, bars, food etc and some business will hugely suffer. Ultimately an interesting decision but all comes down to fair enforcement.

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      1. True but take them out of he equation completely and the bars and hotels will notice the difference, especially in may. I can think off the top of my head about 10 business at least that are purely worker related but that is a drop in the pond I guess in San An overall, point taken!

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    1. Has this Martin bloke ever worked in the West End?
      You can read through his remarks like he thinks he knows what’s best but then hasn’t got a clue,anyonelse feeling this?
      Like all his remarks are on hear say not with rather than experience
      So how many years has he owned a bar or pr’d I wonder

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      1. Hi Ann, thanks for your comments, this blog post is just reporting the latest decision by the new San Antonio council to Ban PRs & street parades plus comments from bar owners. Don’t shoot the messenger.

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    2. Has his bloke ever worked in the West End or San a bar ?
      Seem to read through his remarks like he’s reasearched a lot of hear say anybody else feel this maybe it’s just me

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  4. Is there a reason why my reply hasn’t appeared questioning have you ever owned or worked in the vs on the West End and that your remarks are hear say

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  5. Thank you for replying there seems to be very one sided opinion on your replies,hence my questioning.
    I’m finding this hard to come to as a)You’ve never owned a bar or been a Pr.
    Which makes me question more on what else is been and not been told
    As no one has gone to town on club price drinks €20 euros +
    But the so called pre party West End cultral for 20+years are been told what drinks can be offerered sounds a bit fishy to me but then those bars seem to be the only ones condeming Prs
    in blogs
    Knowing many of them back in the day as a Pr and that was how they started
    Hypocrisy I say
    It’s a shame maybe your next blog should be about saving the Pr oh no you’re probably no allowed to
    I was coming back to Ibiza this season but you know something what’s the point seems to be the pretty gameover in respect in certain bars want to kill the trend that put them in there fancy cars and holidays and now they want the
    Maybe they should move on
    Got to be honest was going to vote to stay in the EU now
    Hope some get what they deserve OUT vote
    Maybe Brits killed San An Off can be your next blog

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    1. Surely this is NOT right I’ve received messages that only certain main bars in the West End don’t want/need PRS or drinks deals
      So screw everyonelse attitude
      And as I called it you’ve never worked a bar or Pr’d there either so your comments are here say
      “San Antonio is reliant on young workers community”
      It’s welcome but not reliant.
      This was the comment that made me question your replies
      I’m young and yes made me angry then I received a message that you take great pleasure on sponsoring a “workers party”
      What for 40’s +
      Hypocrite comes to mind
      So what’s going on here you helping out friends??
      Getting there perks out it or what
      “Man In San An”
      Whatever!Maybe before you copy and paste articles next time you’ll think on your replys and yes a saw a lot in Ibiza last year on my first year and yes know I know what goes on

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  6. …. aaaand breath! Phew, better now I hope.

    I appreciate what they are trying to achieve but this is harsh news for the kids that rely on this work. What they should do is control it.
    Having returned last summer (for the first time since since my days as a happy San An flyerer, 14 odd years ago), after mingling with the workers, it’s seem that more and more of them are getting conned by employers and anyone faced with a flight home starts looking for a “quick cash solution”. Maybe new measures could make a positive difference for the workers and the streets?

    But I agree, the lookies need to be more negotiable and the prostitutes prettier.

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    1. I don’t thin the ‘workers’ of 2015/2016 can compare with 14 years ago. Whole new ball game nowadays where it’s more a summer off trying to scratch around to get some beer vouchers. There are probably too many ‘workers’ so this might cull the time wasters and leave proper work for those wanting it.

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  7. Than you Matt I’m sure you’ll go a long way with that comment
    It’s OK though that won’t be deleted like my comments will it Shags
    So what’s new in the world of corruption and love word on the street bloggers viewers have quadropled since making a Facebook page 1 like to then making it to the UK in Mix Mag
    Well done done well for your egos I bet just not the island oh well
    Well my friends lost a total of 4000 euros today on deposits due to these blogs and them not coming out anymore can they sue you if nothing happens in the future?

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