back to article Spanish city shuns Brit 'Saga louts'

The tourism chief of Andalucia's Jerez de la Frontera has decided he's had enough of riotous Brits who invade the town and "do nothing but drink", the Sun reports. Juan Manuel García Bermúdez declared: "We don't want the English who come over on cheap flights and do nothing apart from drink all day long. We only want tourism …

COMMENTS

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  1. Wind Farmer

    Brilliant!

    Something we can all aspire to as we age and make the move from the grain to the grape.

    Full-bodied, yet slate-dry humour, from Casa de Lester.

  2. xyz Silver badge
    Pint

    A Scotsman writes...

    I got fed up of Andalucia with its farmers' markets, english food shops, churches, breakfasts, assorted gobbery, Sky TV and the presumption that everyone will speak English. It got like Bournemouth, so I moved to Catalunia to get away from the nylon clad brigade.

    1. Martin Taylor 1
      FAIL

      @Scotsman

      You obviously missed out on Granada and the Alpujarra...

  3. Tim Schomer
    Coat

    They need to be carefull,

    Some old tanked up granny could cripple someone with her zimmer frame.

    / the one with the sherry bottle in the inside pocket please..

  4. Winkypop Silver badge
    Pint

    "It's certainly no worse than anywhere else."

    For the British certainly.

    Drink

    Drink

    Drink

    Drnik

    Dirnk

    Dirrnk

    Drrrnk

    Drrrrr...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    "Sherry-swilling over-50s not welcome in Jerez"

    I guess that the F1 teams are going to have to find a new testing venue, then...

  6. John Sanders
    IT Angle

    Lately

    Unfortunately for Spain the Spaniards have not discovered yet that 99% of the Spanish politicians are a bunch of illierate rednecks, and they keep voting them.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jerez = one horse town

    They used to hold the Spanish F1 Grand Prix in Jerez. You're best off staying in Seville and hitting the tapas bars there.

  8. shannonn

    Hear, hear for Mr. Bermudez

    Juan Manuel García Bermúdez declared: "We don't want the English who come over on cheap flights and do nothing apart from drink all day long. We only want tourism that will enrich the area."

    And he gets slapped down by some local tourist establishments. Nice. He sounds like a smart guy to me. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that cheap flights = crummy tourists who cheapen and wreck a destination over time. And the hoteliers who have their panties in a bunch over Mr. Bermudez' comments should consider: they could start charging more for fewer tourists (in time of course) if they would work together to enrich the local offering.

    Or they can keep churning out the mass-tourist drunken fool brit-touron fare that they apparently currently deliver.

    1. justinjerez

      Double irony

      Shannonn, the irony is hardly any larger louts come to Jerez. There isn't even a problem. This is not Lanzagrotty or Shagaluf. My totally unscientific research (done while enjoying a coffee in the main square) is that most Brits who come to Jerez are either 50-something couples or young families. The place is virtually dead by 11pm. The only drink problem we have is with the local kids who gather in their thousands at macrobotellones on the outskirts of town and get completely plastered and trash the place. Double irony is Mr Bermudez has, through the "Ruta del Vino y Brandy", spent a lot of effort (and my taxes) promoting the very bars these low-class "english" apparently hang out in all weekend...

    2. h 6
      Unhappy

      Tourists darn them

      Sounds similar to a situation across the pond.

      Cheap low-fi summer college kid/Canadian destination town Myrtle Beach hosts a Harley biker week that lasts 10 days (a week is longer on a Harley it seems) each Spring. Smoke-outs, drunken accidents, deaths, puking/pissing/sleeping in front yards, traffic, total disdain for the civilized -- you get the picture.

      So the town enacted a helmet law. Most of the Harley riders did not show up after that. I for the death of me would not want to go to Myrtle Beach, but the locals were very happy to not have the Harley rabble ruin their beach-side town for 2 weeks.

      Of course, some business owners didn't like the helmet law keeping the Harley riders' money out of town.

      Retched place tho IMHO.

      1. Will Leamon

        Helmet Law

        That helmet law is Georgia State law not some local thing just for Myrtle Beach. And though bike week is a massive pain it's NOTHING compared to past freakniks or God help us spring break in the panhandle.

        1. awarre
          FAIL

          Myrtle Beach

          People in Myrtle Beach South Carolina don't really care about Georgia state laws

          And yes the helmet law is local town ordinance,not state law

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    I for one...

    ...welcome our English who come over on cheap flights and do nothing apart from drink all day long masters.

  10. Jimbo 6

    Feel the NEED for TWEED

    Holy crap ! I've just realised I'll be eligible for Saga holidays in 8 years. Do they do any to Ibiza or Shagaluf ?

    1. Tony S
      Pint

      Saga

      Don't forget, those currently on Saga holidays would have been on Club 18-30 holidays when "Agadoo" was in the charts.....

      Now that is a scary thought!

      (And don't anyone dare ask what "Agadoo" is!)

      1. Tezfair

        Great...

        Just got up Saturday morning with a cup of tea and read of the reg and now im depressed..

        Im 45

        5 years away from SAGA

        remember agadoo

        and the birdy song - all versions

        went on 18-30 once - benidorm

        still married to the girl i met from the above holiday

        need to but a valentines card + flowers

        I think im going back to bed

        1. Stratman

          title

          Went on an 18-30 holiday to Arizona, met a girl, married her in 1983, still married.

          Well past SAGA qualification, never been on one.

          The Four Ages of Man:-

          Lager, Aga, Saga and gaga.

  11. Eddy Ito
    Joke

    Señor Bermúdez

    He is quite right. Just have a look at what's happened to the U.S. and Oz! The drunkards arrived, lost their way home and now they've practically overrun the place.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gets my vote...

    I agree with the man. Someone once said that no-one is a worse representative of their country than a tourist. That applies to Brits more than most, I'm afraid - all too often we're an embarrassment abroad.

    On holiday abroad these days, I either book places with little Brit presence, or at the very least stay away from large populations of Brits while I'm on holiday. Including the wrinkly brigade, who seem to do little else but complain, shout (rather than simply learn 'please' and 'thank you' in the host language) and relentlessly pursue duty-free alcohol. Not all, of course - but enough to make Sr Bermúdez's generalisation a fair one.

    I go abroad to experience different people, customs and food, NOT for booze, chips-with-everything and an automatic assumption that Johnny Foreigner should learn English if he wants my cash.

    The whole world isn't Disneyland, and foreign residents - unless they're actually employed in that role - aren't put on this earth purely for our entertainment. Politeness and a willingness to learn cost nothing but a little effort and reap huge rewards.

    Sr Bermúdez - you've just put Jerez de la Frontera back on my list of possible destinations...

  13. Anonymous John

    Playmobil reconstruction,

    or it isn't happening.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I think the problem with Jerez is

    That there really isn't much else to do there except drink, and they do make that ridiculously easy by having a town thats packed solid with bars and factories making booze.

  15. JPQ
    FAIL

    Notes from an expat...

    As someone who has spent the last 15 years living in Spain and seeing first-hand how the economy is in the toilet due to typical Spanish mis-management, this is yet another case of a spaniard forgetting where his bread is buttered.

  16. Andy Livingstone

    Read the quote again, please.

    It is not the "Brits" he is complaining about. It is the "English". There is a difference.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You're right of course....

      .... the Scots are at least as bad and often worse ...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Spain and our politicians --> # Lately

    The Spanish discovered long ago that our politicians are a bunch of retarded monkeys on crack. Unfortunately, the country seem unable to produce a better crop. These guys seem embarked in an enthusiastic and very successful Search For Total Stupidity. Everybody knows it and everybody hates them.

    For me, the only bright side of these creepy guys is the benefic influence they have on my cosmopolitan nature. I feel really out of scene when I turn on the TV.. [sight!) But Berlusconi doesn't look much better. Mr. Brown is just a little bit less striking. And what do you think of Napoleon Sarkozy?

    Yes, Spain is a depressed country right now. But the whole Europe looks like a crazy and decrepit lady fantasizing about her beauty in front of a mirror, The future belongs elsewhere.

  18. asiaseen

    Booze is free in Jerez?

    "We only want tourism that will enrich the area."

    So, the wrinklies aren't paying for their drinkies then?

  19. Pelapollos
    Stop

    Mr.Bean.

    > Unfortunately for Spain the Spaniards have not discovered yet that 99% of the Spanish politicians are a bunch of illierate rednecks, and they keep voting them.

    Mmmm, I'am afraid we discovered that long ago. A lot of us usually kept voting the less harmful options, but unfortunately this has not been enough to prevent Mr. Bean from enlightening our lives.

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