MaltaToday previous editions

MT 25 September 2016

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/731331

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 13 of 55

maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 14 Special Report "You know how every five to 10 years we hear about the death of guitar music... only for guitar music to rise from the ashes and reclaim its deserved position? I feel pretty much the same about rock bars. It's true that they were a more frequent occurrence during the 80's and 90's, but electronic music at the time was still on the rise. There was a musical chasm in the process, but I don't necessarily feel that's a negative thing. Cultures change. Tastes change, but rock music will still be around one way or another..." Indeed, the recent trend for music-oriented bars has been to abandon Paceville in droves. You are likelier to encounter live acts in Valletta or even Marsaskala these days. Vella reasons that this change was dictated more by the laws of economics, than by musical tastes. "From an economic point of view and the little experience I have I can tell you that most businesses are not too keen on the 'rock crowd', as we rockers (I include myself in the equation) tend to part less easily with our money. Ask any bar owner. I am confident you'll get the same reply. Rockers? NAH. They'll stick to a couple of pints all night..." On another level, the transition also underscores a change in perception of Paceville itself. As Vella puts it: "Paceville is no longer THE place to be, therefore there's the likelihood that any pretender to a new music club will consider opening elsewhere... as already witnessed with the now defunct Coach and Horses (Msida), Django (Valletta) and Funky Monkey (Manoel Island)." Again, it is but one of the many vicissitudes in Paceville's brief but chequered history. And not all our Paceville memo- ries are pleasant, either; one must also consider the darker side of Malta's largest entertainment district. Apart from reg- ular fights and alcohol-fuelled vandalism sprees, Paceville has built up something of a reputation for organised crime over the years. Bar owners tell grim stories of a low-level protec- tion racket that culminated in the 1992 murder of Diego 'Ix- Xadin' Farrugia: gunned down by club owner Frank Grima outside Bamboo... for which Grima would later be acquitted on self defence grounds. Meanwhile, national crime statistics consistently place St Julian's (Paceville is not considered on its own merits) to- wards the top of the list of crime hotspots. Prof. Dingli con- firms this is not just a perception. "My Dad, who passed away two years ago, lived alone in Paceville. He was burgled three times. He often found used syringes amongst the shrubs across the road. The public benches there are often vandalized. If you speak to the shop owners, they are continuously alert for petty theft. Young people who frequent Paceville use the residents' verandas as toilets and trash cans. If you walk down to the swimming area between the Dragonara and the Hilton, it is filthy and full of broken glass bottles..." The area's general infrastructure, she adds, does not help much either. "There is a safety issue at stake here. There is only one exit for traffic out of Paceville... near the Rokna, op- posite the Portomaso tower. So traffic is often at a standstill. What if there were to be an emergency. How would emer- gency vehicles enter and exit a gridlocked area?" Meanwhile, with the demise of Coconut Grove, it seems the last bastion of an older, perhaps more innocent Paceville is crumbling before our eyes. The 'new' Paceville is increasingly dominated by 'gentlemen's clubs' offering 'adult entertain- ment' – even though the average age of the typical Paceville- goer has not noticeably increased in the interim. Then as now, Paceville remains a curious hybrid creature: consciously trying to attract a wealthier, more adult clientele... while still attracting the bulk of Malta teens and tweens, not to mention the mostly pubescent language student sector. Nor is this the only contradiction. Prof. Dingli points to- wards a mismatch between Paceville's aspirations as a tourist centre, and the actual condition of its environment. "I think Paceville offers a huge contradiction: the luxury of five star hotels such as the Hilton, and the chaos and lack of disci- pline one finds as one exits from those enclaves. My feeling is that the people who own the entertainment establishments wanted Paceville to become a 24-hour clubbing area, to the detriment of residents who are mainly elderly. Whether a clubbing area, now dotted with so-called Gentlemen's Clubs, could co-exist with supposedly up market hotels remains an open question. Not to mention the three gaming casinos in a very limited geographical area... This raises the question of what changes we can expect in future. It was in part to address some of these issues that the Planning Authority has just launched a consultation process for a new development framework for Paceville. So don't blink just yet. The place that has changed so much in so little time, may well change beyond recognition once more. rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt "Paceville is no longer THE place to be, therefore there's the likelihood that any pretender to a new music club will consider opening elsewhere" Unstoppable changes: Live music in Paceville was once synonymous with BJs, a jazz club run by Philip Fenech, which with the passage of time fell victim to changing tastes, and was later turned into yet another Paceville nightclub. Coconut Grove, a mainstay for rock fans, as was the Alley (second row, first photo) is now closing its doors, signalling the death knell for what was a haunt for alternative rock fans. Today Paceville is like an 'airport' of entertainment, with so-called 'gentleman's clubs' catering for an adult crowd, and investors putting money into high-value entertainment. Death of the disco dancer

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MT 25 September 2016