Living on the costa

The “fashion” of the beach club has settled on the Costa del Sola business model that has proliferated in recent decades on the Malaga coast, with Marbella and Torremolinos being the destinations with the highest volume of these leisure establishments, as stated by the president of the Malaga Beach Entrepreneurs Association, Manuel Villafaina.

The business representative has indicated that despite the English-speaking name given to these beach establishments, “there are few who are not dedicated to giving the classic”, emphasizing that “90% continue with the same situation” and “5% are dedicated to providing meals and a little music”.

Villafaina has valued that the difference between a beach club and a traditional beach bar is that the first one “can reach have a music permit, a singer or a DJ”, in addition to “providing another kind of food” along with the typical fried fish and having “another type of environment”, with a “younger” type of public.

“He change comes by modernity”, has recounted the business representative, who has stressed that “the fact that it is called beach club It does not mean that it is not a beach bar”, being Marbella and Torremolinos the destinations in which this type of business has been established the most, he has assured.

As he pointed out, the concept of beach club It was established on the Malaga coast around the year 2000 and its proliferation “began in Marbella”, which is related to the beach establishments of some hotels. In this sense, he pointed out that the idea was imported from the hotels in the Canary Islands, since “they call beach club to the beach restaurant, some with music”.

They emphasize that “the name has changed, but not the concept”

Thus, he has assessed that “The name has changed, but not the concept”emphasizing that “people like the beach, they are fashionable” and “the one of the beach club”. The hotelier has pointed out that this business model “It is not displacing the traditional beach bar”, noting that only “5% have changed the name and have music and 10% have changed the name” introducing the English term.

Ocean Club, located on the beach in the luxurious Puerto Banús in Marbella, opened its doors in 2007 and since then offers a gastronomic and leisure offer that sets it apart by having “a 1,000 square meter saltwater pool with Balinese beds around it, a restaurant with international food, a bar in the center and a store with the latest trends in swimwear”, as specified by the establishment.

Aspects such as “a Olympic swimming pool, its decoration, panoramic views, its renowned events, an incomparable service and a formidable selection of drinks and food” differentiate it from a traditional beach bar, as they have valued from the club, aimed at an “international audience”. Its consolidation in the area is reflected in the opening of new businesses, and last May, the group opened “a new beach bar in El Rosario, called Dune Beach Marbella”.

Large firms have set their sights on the Costa del Sol to develop this type of business, and the Grupo Pachá has invested 16 million euros to build the Laguna Village tourist and leisure complex on the Padrón beach in Estepona, with 3,000 square meters distributed over two floors in a space that suffered a fire in 2020, and whose first stone was laid in July of last year. The center will have an exclusive hotel, restaurant and business offer with a swimming pool, a beach cluba square and car parks, which plans to open its doors in July.

An offer made up of Mediterranean cuisine, hammocks and music

Lorena Sastre is a partner and director of the beach club usso, located in Las Chapas de Marbella, which opened its doors in 2019, a few months before the outbreak of the Covid-19 health crisis, and which, despite its beginnings, has established itself as a leisure offer on the coast. “The opening was a bit chaotic because the pandemic came in, and we really didn’t know very well how things were going to turn out, and then the regulations changed a lot, so we were a little restless. Even so, people responded, the business is very well set up, the gastronomy is very good, the service is brutal and the decoration, and in the end everything adds up”, the businesswoman has valued.

With a clientele that is “almost all foreign”, between 40 and 60 years old, and a “high atmosphere”, the establishment is characterized by providing “a hammock service, massage, lunch and dinner, and on weekends people come to have a drink to see the evening enjoying the DJ”, pointed out Sastre. Restoration takes on a special role with a “Mediterranean gastronomyalways betting on our land and our products”, although “it is a little more elaborate than other types of cuisine”, he explained.

In his opinion, unlike a traditional beach bar, in it beach club “Customers enjoy an experience from the moment they enter, because it has a different atmosphere, with the vibe that the DJ and music gives it, its hammocks or massages, there is a little more service”, highlighting the potential offered by the Costa del Sol and Marbella to implement this type of business to the count on “many foreign people who have their second residence here.” “There is demand, people like to spend a day in a nice place, with good service and good gastronomy, and that the quality and price are consistent,” the businesswoman has qualified.

Playa Padre is a leisure establishment located on the Cable beach in Marbella where partying and music are the stars, as well as gastronomy. The venue was inaugurated by Pamela Anderson in 2017 and offers “service of hammocks, sun and food, to later transform the restaurant into a party, with all the tables reserved for clients who pay a certain amount to take advantage of the offer of international DJs”, which takes place every Thursday, highlighted the venue manager, Manuel Ferreira.

The culinary proposal is made up of a “Mediterranean cuisine with Mexican fusion”, arriving to “the 500 covers in the middle of summer per day” after being renovated three years ago, which has been “correct”, he has valued. When asked about the concept, he pointed out that Playa Padre “is a beach club in everyone’s ears, although we don’t have a pool, but we do have a fantastic sea view and an incredible beach”, a term that “means party, concert and comfort”, adding that “we are a restaurant or beach bar that is a bit peculiar”.

He Trocadero group has several beach establishments in Marbella, Benalmádena or Estepona, as well as planning a new opening for June in the capital of Malaga, with the Trocadero Arena being one of the first to settle on the Marbella coastal area of ​​Río Real “almost 12 years” ago, according to its director. , Ricardo Martin.

The restaurant is located on the beachfront, and has “sunbed service with food and drinks and events such as weddings or companies”, so “it is not the typical beach club“, with a “Mediterranean” gastronomy and a “Japanese cuisine menu”. The profile of the public changes according to the season, and “in winter there are between 60 and 70% of foreign tourism, and in July and August they come to Madrid in full”.

Regarding the evolution of this type of business in the area, the hotelier has opined that “it has been changing from the typical fried fish bar and to have a beer in a bathing suit, and it has become more sophisticated towards a restaurant on the beach with all kinds of quality, food and service”. In his words, this is because “the clientele requested it”, which “was demanding a little more luxury and less noise”.