More drugs, more drink, more sex… why the Croatian island of Hvar is becoming new Magaluf for boozed-up Brits
A BARMAN slips an army helmet over the girl’s hairdo, picks up a hammer . . . and starts smashing away at her head.
She staggers under each blow. But when they finally end, she downs a triple shot of tequila.
Then she stumbles off to be sick while another punter steps up to try the notorious “tequila boom”.
The £5 special, designed to leave tourists woozy and reeling, is one of the crazy goings on at Europe’s new party capital — Hvar in Croatia.
But the tragedy is not slowing down any of the revellers tonight.
One has decided a hammer is for wimps and asks for his tequila boom to be served with a flurry of blows from a fire extinguisher. He ends up with a chipped tooth.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the dark Kiva Bar, a man whips out his penis and wraps it around his wrist to simulate a watch.
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Pleased with his party trick, he approaches a girl and asks: “What’s the time, love?”
Behind him, Adam, 20, of Blackpool, brags: “I’ve smashed six girls in 24 hours! Hvar makes Magaluf look like Downton Abbey.”
Then he plucks the lime from his drink and squeezes it into both eyes. The drunken crowd whoops.
Next to him, partygoers are stripping off and grinding to R&B hits.
There is also a steady stream of clubbers rushing to the loos to vomit.
Some do not manage to make it and end up slumping to the floor, drenched in their own sick and sweat.
Others use the toilets for a different purpose — to fondle somebody they have taken a fancy to, or in one case we saw, have full sex.
Back at the bar, a hen party orders a round of one-litre cocktails.
The bride-to-be has earlier told me she is only here for the laughs and to have a boogie with her pals.
Now she is staggering outside and pinning a man she has only just met up against a wall.
They grind against each other, kissing messily, hands grasping wildly at each other’s bodies.
It is only 11pm in Hvar and for the young Brits who swarm all over the historic Adriatic Sea port, the night has just begun.
Local shopkeeper Linda, 52, says: “We know when the Brits have arrived. They’re the ones running through the town having sex on everything with everyone.
"Bar staff and police turn a blind eye, terrified if they act it could destroy lucrative tourism.”
Half a million Brits visit a year, mainly young party animals priced out of traditional hotspots such as Ibiza in Spain, Magaluf on Majorca and Bulgaria’s Sunny Beach.
It is a six-hour trip from London involving a plane, a bus and a ferry — but the wild nightlife makes it all worthwhile for many.
James, 22, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, explains: “It was a proper mission, but I’ve only been here a few hours and I’ve already got laid, so it was worth it.”
With that, he gleefully waves an empty condom packet.
His pal Amy, 21, chips in: “With all the stags here, it’s total carnage. I’m definitely getting lucky tonight.”
The island was not always like this. Just a few years ago, Hvar attracted an older crowd keen on enjoying the sun, 13th century history and the upmarket restaurants dotted around the harbour.
Now, as locals tuck into their lunch, the peaceful view of the Adriatic is interrupted by drunks running past naked or having alfresco sex in broad daylight.
Exasperated waitress Sara, 29, says: “You can barely walk across the square in July or August because it’s so busy with young British girls and boys who want to party all day and all night.
“Perhaps laws are too strict in the UK and that’s why they have a blowout when they get here. Yesterday I found a couple having sex on my doorstep.”
Another local, Nikola Zorica, 26, adds: “Police will only intervene when it gets really bad as they don’t want to scare off the tourists.
“All that they care about is making money.”
Around the corner a man is being searched by police for drugs. With the island’s all-night clubs, ecstasy is increasingly a problem.
Later, a 22-year-old Brit tells how he bought ten pills “on the cheap” to keep him going all night.
By the looks of it he got his money’s worth, as his eyes glaze over and he slumps against a wall. But he is not yet out of it quite enough for his own satisfaction, and is planning a visit to the hammer-wielding barman at Kiva.
Along with his mates, he earlier witnessed the customer losing a tooth while being hit with the fire extinguisher and is inspired.
He says with a laugh: “It was savage. Still, I’ll give it a go — go large or go home, eh boys?”
By 2am, a guy is passed out on a street while his pal stumbles through the town square semi-naked and barefoot. He is alone and can’t string a sentence together.
Nearby, 25-year-old Vicky, from Fulham, South West London, is crying in the door of a pizza shop.
Her foot is streaming with blood after she stepped on broken glass in a bar.
But once she has been bandaged up, she and her pal head off to continue partying.
Their destination is Carpe Diem Beach, an all-night club with a swimming pool and semi-naked dancers.
It was here, the previous night, that a rugby player from Leeds drunkenly sat on a sink in the toilets, ripping it from the wall and gouging his back.
He ended up in hospital but tonight the 25-year-old is back in party mode at another popular bar, Hula Hula. There he tears off his bandage to reveal 35 stitches.
With a shout of: “War wounds!” he pulls down his pants and takes a photograph of his own bottom.
The cuts still look raw and his pals admit doctors advised him to return to hospital for a check-up today.
Instead he is dancing on tables and swinging his bloodied bandage above his head.
One pal says: “We probably should take him to the doctor at some point.
“But that would mean we’d miss out on valuable drinking time.”
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