Almuñécar Town Hall has decided to cut by 50% the bidding minimum on the leasing of five establishments under the Paseo del Altillo after nobody came forward.

Anybody interested in leasing one of the five premises for the next 30 years should consult the Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público at the Town Hall and enter a bid before 11.00h on the 16th of August.

The five premises are New Pinball, La Sirena, El Soho, La Bodeguita del Mar and El Torero. Any new lease taken out cannot be extended beyond the 30 years.

After the demolition of the Paseo del Altillo in 2003 in order to build an underground car park; instead of taking nine months to build, it wasn’t finally inaugurated until the end of July 2006.  The accompanying photo is  taken from the Gazette archives from 2005.

During this elapse this main artery was severed and business on the upper part of the paseo withered. At the same time, the San Cristóbal and Velilla underground car parks were under construction, which also languished for long periods without any activity, so that Almuñécar’s whole beach front from Velilla to San Cristobal was paralised.

The people who lost their premises when they demolished the paseo were promised new ones, bigger than the originals, but they had to put everything in themselves, right down to the fittings.

Today, without 20 years having even passed, they are up for releasing, which has caused quite a controversy, especially down the eastern end of the paseo. One business that had been operating since the 70s was supposed to be hereditary, but this has not been honoured by the Town Hall, allegedly.

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