Ibiza superclub Privilege will have to stay shut following its legal appeal against the San Antonio council suspension order being rejected in court.
The suspension order was put in place by San Antonio in September 2018. Tow clubs received orders. Amnesia’s applied only to their terrace area, closing that part of the club and allowing the rest to remain open. However the Privilege order applied to the entire club.
The order was issued on the grounds that the club had made expansions and alterations that were unauthorised and so illegal. There were specific technical issues, particularly relating to alterations that hindered fire escapes.
Specifically the report of infractions stated; “the modification of the evacuation routes was observed through the installation of partition walls in several exits, as well as deficiencies in the signaling of fire extinguishing equipment and, in addition, substantial remodeling of the premises not contemplated in the project that obtained a license.
“During the inspection it was observed that some areas that initially were projected without definite use or with an occupation density corresponding to a restaurant were being devoted to public dance.
“As a result, the density is modified and the resulting capacity is considerably higher, according to the City Council. The municipal technicians understand that the modifications affect an activity of 5,426 square meters and involve expanding the authorized capacity in more than 500 people, which is why, as a precautionary measure, the closure of the activity of the party room is determined.
“Two economic sanctions have been levied, one of 650 euros for a minor infringement and one of 54,999 euros for very serious infringement.
Privilege had options of either taking remedial action, so undoing the works and expansions stated to be illegal, or alternatively making application to have the changes properly sanctioned with retrospective applications for permission.
However, in so far as we can ascertain from the legal wording in what are the most difficult documents to translate, Privilege instead opted to pursue an appeal for what is termed ‘contentious administrative appeal’.
Privilege provided what they say was evidence that should allow the order to be lifted, but the town hall replied stating that the evidence was unsatisfactory and anyway only applied to some of the many infractions in the original suspension order.
The court decided in San Antonio Town hall’s favour, denying Privilege’s appeal to re-open.
As yet there has been no statement from Privilege as to their intended next steps, but with the club season only weeks away it must be considered unlikely they will be open for the start of the season at the very least.
