When Paceville is in the news it is almost always for the wrong reasons.

The most famous locality for nightlife in Malta inevitably is also a place where tempers flare very easily, probably because of the high levels of alcohol that are consumed. It often happens that matters get out of control and a fight erupts.

It was only a few days ago when footage of a brawl went viral on the social platforms, and was also picked up by the mainstream media as an example of the kind of things that happen, quite regularly, in Paceville. More or less everyone carries a mobile phone today, so filming such happenings is not exceptional.

We have been told that in the last four years 400 fights took place in the Paceville area which led to people being injured. This is what police figures show. We are sure that there have been many more fights than that, with the police not getting involved. And multiple times more verbal altercations must have taken place, in or out of the many establishments that dot the locality. Inebriated people find it hard to stick to normal behaviour, and even a look that lasts half a second longer than necessary could be interpreted badly.

Over the last four or five decades Paceville has been the main attraction for people who want to entertain themselves. Bars, clubs, restaurants and whatnot have opened, closed, exchanged owners, been renamed and redecorated – but the locality has remained vibrant with activity in the late hours of the day and early hours of the following morning, and not only at the weekend. It is the country’s entertainment mecca.

The thousands who flock there every day, including the many youngsters who come over to Malta to learn English and also have a good time, make Paceville a place that hardly ever sleeps. It is however also the most dangerous places to be in Malta. St Julian’s, which incorporates Paceville, has a crime rate five times higher than the national average. There is more police presence in the locality, but officers cannot be everywhere. And when it is said that St Julian’s has the highest crime rate, it’s largely because of what happens in Paceville.

There was a time when there were regular complaints from residents, but this was mostly at the beginning of the Paceville phenomenon. Today, most of the residents have fled to other, quieter places, and so we do not hear much about this anymore. If anything, it is the people who live in the outskirts of Paceville who cry foul – there have been times when they had their cars scratched, or someone urinated against their door, or woke them up by shouting in the street.

One other negative thing that stands out is the large amount of garbage bags that end up on the pavement each and every morning. Apart from being an ugly site, this creates bad odours that linger for the best part of the day, especially in the summer heat.  

One final thought – seeing how Paceville had developed, do we want to see Valletta in the same state?