THE ENTERTAINMENT and general biking misbehaviour zone on Douglas Prom during TT is moving back to its traditional home outside the huge Bushy’s beer tent near the ferry terminal for 2008.
The giant Duke video screen will return, as well as a full-on stunt show every evening -- plus the usual amateur mix of topless (and sometimes bottomless) pillion ride-pasts, beered-up bikers mooning at rozzers and gratuitous burn-outs.
For the centenary TT last year the Isle of Man Government set up an alternative entertainment zone outside its own Villa Marina complex further down the Prom, in conjunction with Duke Marketing and in direct competition with Bushy’s. This was originally billed as a ‘family attraction’ but a beer marquee was quietly added onto the features by the time the festival was due to take place.
However, the government now appears to accept that it shot itself in the foot. Tourism minister Mr Earnshaw has admitted to the local Isle of Man Examiner newspaper that the necessary road closures inevitably restricted access to the Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre attractions -- and the latter was in fact closed for the duration as a result.
‘This year the plan is for the promenade entertainment to be very similar to the years prior to 2007,’ said Earnshaw. ‘It will be focused around Bushy’s and based on that part of the promenade.’
Bushy’s supremo Martin Brunnschweiler is naturally delighted by the climb-down. ‘We were initially concerned last year about the promenade entertainment being split up but there were plenty of people to go around and we were not affected,’ he said. ‘All the same, we are very pleased and optimistic that it is reverting back to what we consider the traditional site.’
