Welcome to the Jungle

Friday, August 29 2008

As a follow up on last weeks post about the cancellation of the Spot the Barrel competition, I would like to thank the people that responded to my appeal about the money not being refunded by Roland. Everyone of you were perfectly happy with the proposed idea although I realise there were only a few. In the end I received a little over fifteen responses from who a few wish to remain anonymous. I guess the money will be refunded as planned since the information on the Spot the Barrel Website is still the same as last week, although.....

There has been a slight change, and as already mentioned on the website, today was the day that the name of the new hotel would be announced and Roland kept his promise. He is delighted to announce that the name for the new Islay hotel in Port Ellen is "The Jungle"

Update: As you can read in the comments there might be a change of plans. One of the reasons could be that it turns out that the Celtic supporters end at parkhead is referred to as 'the jungle', something the Rangers fans on Islay could have a problem with. The name "The Jungle" has now been removed from the Spot the Barrel Website, which might suggest that another name has been chosen. I also received an anonymous email from someone who lives in Port Ellen. continue reading......

THE JUNGLE: come on this is totally unacceptable, even with kathleens sense of humour, but saying that there is NO humour in THE JUNGLE, i have known kathleen for years and years and this has taken the biscuit. When they said they were having a guessing competition for the naming for the hotel i was expecting something unusual, something original, something quaint, but THE JUNGLE which has NO reference to islay or its surroundings is totally unacceptable and unjust to ALL the people of islay and especially to the people of PORT ELLEN. have they done research into the old firm divide in scotland, and especilly PORT ELLEN, do they want the locals, and i myself am not football orientated.

PLEASE RECONSIDER KATHLEEN AND ROLAND you have to make this work, WE WANT A NEW ISLAY HOTEL so call it just that ISLAY HOTEL.

Ron: Thanks for sending me your comments and I must say I like the name Islay Hotel much better too.

Tag: accommodation port ellen

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9 comments

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Authored by: Spirit of Islay on Friday, August 29 2008 Welcome to the Jungle

The Jungle !!!!!! Huh ?

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Warehouse No.4 - The Spirit of Islay Forum .
http://www.spiritofislay.net/warehouse4

Authored by: ron on Friday, August 29 2008 Welcome to the Jungle

That explains that nobody guessed the name right!! It was quite a surprise for me too, hence the title of the post.

It's not a name that I would connect with a hotel, but then again, what's in a name? :-)

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I'd rather be on Islay :-)

I've just been told by someone that there could be a change of plans and therefore a change of name... I will update this post when new information comes available. I wonder what would happen if they change the name into something that was guessed earlier by someone? Intriguing......

Authored by: Spirit of Islay on Saturday, August 30 2008 Welcome to the Jungle

Hi Ron , I think it would be a BIG mistake to name it this and i hope they are seriously reconsidering , we've had a bit of a discussion over at the Whisky Magazine forum and i didn't know about the Old Firm link until then , given that there seems to be a bigger presence of Blues fans on Islay , i think a few would have been avoiding the Hotel , as Old Firm football fans seem to do ! Why not name it after the Loch in front ? The Leodamais Hotel ? Even the Bay View ! The funny thing was that when i mentioned the name to my wife she said exactly the same thing i had thought , That was the name of an exceedingly dodgy Nightclub in the North Shields area famous for ladies of the night many years ago........ I just thought what fun a certain Master Distiller at a well known Distillery was going to have with that name during his famous Festival Masterclass next year !

Never thought to add the URL to the WM Thread..... http://www.whiskymag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9552

Authored by: ron on Saturday, August 30 2008 Welcome to the Jungle

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the link to the thread. Unfortunately it wasn't working so here is an active Link to the thread.

I agree with your comment and I too could come up with names that would be much more suitable for the Hotel. I still think "Islay Hotel" is a fine name which brings back a lot of memories for the community, or "Port Ellen Hotel", or like you said "Bay View", just to keep it simple!

I have a few others as well: Blue Bay hotel, Ardview Hotel, The Campbell Hotel, named after Walter Frederick Campbell, founder of Port Ellen and I'm convinced the locals have many more suggestions!

Authored by: agrewe on Saturday, August 30 2008 Welcome to the Jungle

If it weren't for the unfortunate football connection I must be one of the few people who actually like the name, or at least the idea behind it.

To my knowledge some people suggest not to call it Islay Hotel again, as that might bring bad luck, also considering what happened to it before. In regards to the various other suggestions I've seen, quite frankly, I find them boring and predictable. Bay View? There are probably thousands with that name in the world. Campbell Hotel? To get the same problem with the enemies of the Campbells not wanting to stay at the hotel?

Why not try something new, something different, for a change? Get away from the staid "tartan and shortbread" image?

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Gruss,
Armin
www.islayblog.com
www.armin-grewe.com/islay/

I must have missed something along the line, what was the idea behind the name ? Apart from giving people from other parts of the Isle a line for a joke ? Bay View was just an off the Cuff name , what i was surprised at is that they haven't gone for an up market name to attract the people in from the Marina , "The Jungle " isn't exactly going to get them rushing is it ? I know a lot of people in Port Ellen (and a few of us visitors) are really looking forward to the place (Bar / Restaurant ) opening because they (like a lot of the visitors ) don't rate the other places in Port Ellen it self . There was also a lot of disappointment at the failed takeover of the White Hart Hotel , Port Ellen is starting to look very good these days , you ask quite a lot of visitors and most will tell you they'd stop there if there was a good place to eat and drink ! One thing we did notice during this years visit was that the Co-op in Port Ellen had a good selection of Champagne , anything to do with the Marina Visitors ?

Armin, there is no problem in trying something new or different. I think people have a fundamental problem with "The Jungle". The name brings up images that have nothing to do with a hotel. Obvious or even boring names like Blue Bay, Bel Air or whatever suddenly sound attractive compared to "The Jungle"