The name Ta’ Xbiex evolved from “tax-xbiek’ which means ‘’place of nets’’ Although a peninsula, Ta’ Xbiex is close to land on all sides. Ix-Xatt ta’ Ta’ Xbiex circumvents a hill where handsome villas look over the Marsamxett Harbour. When Napoleon’s forces locked themselves inside the capital in 1798, Ta’ Xbiex was one of the sites from where the Maltese would keep their eyes and ears on the French invaders.
On the 29th September 2007 the Coastal Forces Heritage Trust in co-ordination with the Ta’ Xbiex Local Council remembered the men and women of the Royal Navy and Allied Coastal Forces who were based at HMS Gregale during the Second World War.
HMS Gregale consisted of Four Villas on the Ta’ Xbiex Terrace, one of which served as Headquarters for Captain Coastal Forces. The garages under the ramp serve as workshops and the Whitehall mansions was the base for the WRNS.
There are also a number of service providers such as insurance companies, law firms, auditing and accounting firms.
Among the original villas situated in the streets opposite the sea, one finds Villa Oxania, which belonged to the noted physician and leading archaeologist, Sir Temi Zammit (1864-1935), and Villa Cloe, home to Sir Arturo Mercieca (1878-1969), long-time president of the Maltese Courts and a well known political leader. Both patriots died while they held residence at Ta’ Xbiex.