A restaurant belonging to the Almuñécar Town Hall reopened this Christmas after having remained closed for a decade: Restaurante El Horno de Cándida.

But it is not the only reopening, because a hotel in municipal hands, the Palacete del Corregidor has also opened its doors again, after a similar elapse closed up. Both properties came into public possession at the beginning of the 90’s.

The Town Hall managed to find private enterprises willing to take these tourist premises on.

The Hotel Palacete del Corregidor actually reopened its doors this summer, whereas the restaurant reopened during the festive season.

The Councillor for Tourism, Rafael Caballero, explained that the hotel was originally set up as hostelry school, thanks to a grant from the Central Government. However, although this mission never materialized, a number of hostelry courses and social events were carried out there.

The hotel was also used to lodge visiting musicians who had been hired for concerts in the town (Jazz festival, etc), where it acquired its local nickname, “The Hotel of the Famous.” The Horno de Cándida, on the other hand, did function as a restaurant-school, lasting some seven years, which was when the lease ran out. Now, with Chef Encarnación Martín at the helm, the theme is ‘slow food.’

Both the hotel and restaurant are being run by the only two people that came forward. Although the leases were not expensive in either case, the Town Hall did insist on an economic guarantee that many local business persons could not meet, explained the Councillor.

In the case of the restaurant, the two partners that run it will have to pay 680 euros a month to the Town Hall. As for the hotel, which opened in July and has ten rooms and a spa, they will have to pay 1,500 euros a month – both premises have a renewable lease of two years.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)