Month: July 2023

Last week after an amazing day at Headingley I caught the 8.40am flight from Leeds Bradford to Ibiza. I specifically booked this flight as it was early and I thought it would be peaceful. How wrong I was.

As I entered the airport the noise was insane for 7.30am in the morning. As I went upstairs through security the sound only intensified. The bar was full, the usual tattooed young lads with straight fringes and chemically enhanced bodies were in full swing. The girls with plump lips, false eyelashes and brightly coloured clothes were egging them on. As planes boarded, normal looking people headed to the queue for Faro and the aforementioned groups of youngsters unsurprisingly joined the Ibiza queue.

During the flight the atmosphere was friendly but also tinged with a touch of electricity. A few of the boys had obviously enjoyed their liquid breakfast and were now shouting and screaming, showing off to the long lashed girls who by now were well invested in the whole experience.

Relatively speaking, the flight itself went without too much incident apart from the rising levels of excitement. The polite Jet2 cabin crew lady did lose it at one point with one of the shouty lads but she handled it well and it all calmed down. The chattering and nervous excitement was palpable and we landed at Ibiza’s Es Codolar airport to the inevitable round applause and wolf whistling.

This is where things took a more sinister turn. As we departed the aeroplane, the testosterone, drinks and other chemicals kicked in and the various groups of youngsters became more agitated. ‘Ibiza’ was only a few hundred metres away but the short transport ride to the terminal was like a school assembly with a bunch 7 year olds after eating blue sweets for hours.

As we entered passport control the young lads jumped the fences to avoid the queuing system, girls screamed at their friends even though they were stood next to them. The excitement levels had hit optimum levels and overtaken decent behaviour. The security staff meanwhile looked on with dead eyes, they had seen it all before.

People work hard for their time off and there’s nothing wrong with being excited about your holiday but this type of behaviour pushes the limits. On one hand Ibiza wants and needs people to be excited about coming here – we have world leading entertainment, amazing beaches and nature, a history of cuisine that is already excellent and getting better yet we also expect people to act like respectable human beings. Where does nervous excitement stop and disrespectful disruptive behaviour start?

Ibiza, in many ways, is a victim of its own success. It paints a picture on social media of an anything goes, permissive society so how does it really expect people to behave? How is it that those same tattooed gym bunnies go to Dubai in the winter and behave themselves yet come to Ibiza and lose the plot? Is it because they know that in certain places actions bring consequences and they don’t want be locked up in a cell for 20 years regretting their behaviour. Put simply, people react to the environment they are in.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks on the White Isle. Avoidable car accidents, balcony falls and a near fatal hotel stabbing only scratches the surface and we aren’t even into the peak season yet. Where will it all end? The ‘I’m in Ibiza so I can do anything I want’ attitude is slowly suffocating the golden goose.

Local elections were less than 2 months ago, the new Ibiza politicians have to come up with a plan on how to control the bad eggs. Not just at the airport but during their time on this very small island. We don’t need hot air and hyperbole but a real plan with specific attainable objectives. It won’t be easy as it’s a tightrope trying to maintain Ibiza’s liberal laidback attitude yet coming down hard at the right time.

Globally, Ibiza has been at the top of its game for several years but what goes up must come down and if the island doesn’t take back control the consequences will be there for all to see.

Pacha Group has effectively been split into two separate entities with the much rumoured sale of the hotel and nightlife assets to Five Holdings, a Dubai based company owned by businessman Kabir Mulchandani.

The reported price of 320 million euros does not include the ‘Lio’ brand which will be retained and managed by existing owners Trilantic Capital Partners who purchased the Pacha Group from the Urgell family in 2017 for around 350 million euros.

Lio is viewed by many as the most dynamic brand within the group with a rapid expansion programme that has seen the cabaret with food focussed business open in Mykonos and London following on from their success in the old El Divino nightclub in Marina Ibiza.

Lio Mallorca opens in August and there’s also plans to open in Miami, Las Vegas and Dubai. The Dubai venue will be at the Five Luxe Hotel, owned and operated by Five Holdings.

The deal is being presented as a new strategic partnership to help international expansion however for all intents and purposes the group is being split into 2, a cherry each for want of a better expression.

As part of the deal Pacha Group will refund the 18 million euros loan they negotiated from the Spanish government as emergency measures to get them through the Covid pandemic which hit the nightlife industry very hard.

Pepe Rosello, the founder and owner of Space Ibiza has been in the news again this week with his latest idea to keep the name alive. Space will be opening somewhere in Italy at a time when nobody really knows or possibly cares. It’s the latest attempt by Sr Rosello to keep the name alive and relevant but in a vastly changing landscape it’s mainly falling on deaf ears.

There’s no doubt that ‘back in the day’ Space Ibiza was the best club in the world. Not voted for by paid ads or sycophantic hacks but genuine partygoers and clubbers who had an experience like no other at a club that pushed all the boundaries.

Space Ibiza organically grew and never lost its edge but became more corporate over the years as the stakes became higher and when it eventually closed its doors in 2017 it was a fully functioning superclub making oodles of cash for Pepe and his chief trumpeter Carl Cox.

But the world moves on very quickly and if you were to ask the majority of young clubbers at Hï or Amnesia or O Beach or Ushuaia about Space Ibiza then I would hazard a guess that a glazed look would cross their eyes with a shrug of the shoulders. They are living in the here and now.

Shortly after Space closed its doors there were rumours perpetuated by Carl Cox and friends that Space would open in a new venue in Ibiza. That never happened. Then there was the new 5 star Space Hotel which also never happened followed by the opening of Space Eat and Dance, a small cocktail bar on the sunset strip which did happen but, with the greatest will, hasn’t set the world alight compared to its big hitting neighbours, Cafe del Mar and Mambo.

Now we have the new Italian job with a big announcement and a beaming smile from its founder. Does anyone under the age of 40 even care any more?

Pepe Rosello is now an octogenarian, he’s a prince amongst men, a true patriot of San Antonio who has served his time at the top table with class and distinction but his quest to keep the name alive threatens to spoil its legacy if the new ventures don’t live up to the past, which they won’t.

Time to let the legend be, Space Ibiza was a moment in time that is hard to put into words. Those of us who were lucky enough to witness it will never forget it. Desperately trying to keep the name alive threatens to devalue what went before.