Ibiza, once one of the party capitals of the world, may just be getting neutered. Several prominent nightclubs were raided by police in 2016. Then, noise ordinances issued earlier this year for the island’s West End in San Antonio will also force nine clubs to close for two weeks in the summer. Now, the West End neighborhood faces a new setback: a 3 a.m. curfew.
The news comes from a Resident Advisor article on the announcement, confirmed by Pablo Valdés, San Antonio’s environmental councilor. The San Antonio council officially passed the new curfew law yesterday. This law forces clubs and bars in the West End to shut down at 3 am. The new curfew law also forces terrace and outside bars to close at midnight.
Valdés argues the new law will help in “realising that a different San Antonio is possible and that one can live and run any kind of business, but in a respectful way.” Meanwhile, local figures have criticized the new law. Josep Tur, president of the association of West End business owners, said, “This will mean the death and ruin of the West End, and it’ll extend the party and the drinking throughout the rest of the town during the early hours.”
Martin Makepeace, owner of Ibiza Speedboats, said that the law was “a disaster,” and that “the young Brits will now be able to eat and drink until much later in their own towns than in San Antonio, so why would they leave the UK?”
None of the major Ibiza clubs, like Hï or Ushuaïa, operate in the West End, but the new law sets a potentially damaging precedent for the island as a whole.