Paceville is where people go to have a good time. Generally the people in question are teenagers or in their early twenties, mostly (but certainly not all) foreigners. The party district itself is pretty small: from a small open square running down a couple of bar and club lined streets, one of which spills down the Santa Rita steps which is where the heart of the action is.It’s not uncommon to see bleary eyed stragglers making their way home as the regular Joes trudge off to work, or to pass by slumped revellers who’ve decided a bench or the beach made for an easier place to pass out than trying to figure out the address of their hotel. All fun and games, if not exactly a scenic addition to the area.
The problem is that Paceville sits kind of uneasily in the Maltese way of life and impression of their island. It’s a gaudy, noisy amoral patch of real estate that a lot of Maltese people aren’t particularly proud of. And it’s also the easiest place on the island to find trouble, as you can see from the selection of news headlines below taken from the past few months. But it also brings in the cash. And this is why the grubby strip bars and clubs rammed with drunken teenagers are allowed to carry on doing what they do. You only have to be 17 years old to go to one of these clubs (that’s if your ID is even checked at all), and for a lot of young kids on their first holiday alone it proves difficult to resist the temptation to go a little bit crazy…
Sunday, March 11, 2012 by
Patrick Cooke
Bouncer acquittal should not mask racism problem
Waylon Johnston
Bar manager may lose eye following fight
Friday, June 15, 2012
Bouncer ‘broke man’s jawbone’
Italian injured in Paceville brawl
Paceville fatality – CCTV footage does not show Romanian hitting ‘Sunshine’
Sunday, August 12, 2012 by
Ariadne Massa
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Bouncers ‘beat up’ three Brazilians
Sunday, July 29, 2012 by
Patrick Cooke
Only 28 bouncers on island are legal
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I’m glad I’m old and not obliged to go anywhere near Paceville, except with an armed SWAT response team as escort. Or in daylight, when all the revellers are sleeping off the excesses of the night before.It is sleazy, trashy and totally devoid of any class. And young’uns love it 😉
Brings in revenue, I suppose…
Unfortunately, businesses will flourish where there is a demand for their services. I’m sure it’s not a purely British thing, but we do have a bit of a bad reputation when abroad and one which makes me ashamed and embarrassed.
I usually try to avoid known British areas when on holiday, and have been known to reply in German when addressed by some drunken, tattooed yob wearing Union Jack shorts…….
Maybe I’m getting old.
Rgds
Shaun
I went for my morning coffee in Paceville (staying in the Bay Street hotel across the road – don’t do it unless you like banging doors at 3am) one Sunday morning and could not believe the state of some of the guys who had been drinking all day long, primeval!