CHIRRINGUITOS

As many have no doubt read, from 1st April 2011 the regulation and policing of Andalucia's Beach Bars passes to the Junta de Andalucia. This could well have startling repurcussions, for tourism and for those of us who live permanently in Spain.

If the Ley de Costas were to be strictly applied it would probably mean the end of the Chirringuitos, or at least most of them.

Speaking as someone who lives no more than 100M from a whole row of them; I have mixed feelings.

They are closed from Oct to Feb. In March, April, May, early June and September; they are a pleasure to visit.

July and August however are two months of pure hell for me with the incredibly loud 'music' and rowdiness until 6am. The vandalism, the congestion, the piles of rubbish often lying for days because the refuse lorries can't navigate past the indiscriminate parking. It's at these times I'd welcome a large bulldozer.

Any views on this subject?

 It does sound like a nightmare and so very different from the Chirringuitos on the San Pedro del Pinatar beaches.  At our ones, you can enjoy a light snack, alcoholic beverage or coffee whilst taking in the views of the Mar Menor.  They don't have loud music blearing out and it's very relaxing to chill out at one late afternoon/early evening ;-)

As a tourist I would be concerned another enjoyable little corner of Spain is set for ruin by the Bureaucrats 

But as a Business man I would buy a load of Hot Dog stands and make another couple of million pesetas

Someones pain is another persons gain

I will miss them but the KILLJOYS will no doubt prevail

www.ournextholiday.co.uk

The ONE thing the bureaucrats will NEVER beat is the noise in Spain. Closing the Chiringuitos will do nothing to abate that particular problem - it will simply move elsewhere.

When we came here in holiday we always visited them, as we were quite often on the beach.

Now we live in Spain, we never visit them, even though we are one the beach more often!

Strange..... but true!

Probably 'cos you don't want to look like a tourist now! Also because you now realise that if you sit in a cafe across the road you can pay half the price - except......every cloud has it's silver lining, and amid all the doom & gloom of recession, it has to be noted that many establishments are making a concerted effort to keep the punters coming, and there are some amazing deals around that make the suggestion of rampant inflation seem absurd. One of the most popular restaurants in our town has a menu del dia for 4.95 plus a free toy for all kids (personally I'd rather eat in a restaurant full of smokers, but that's just me) and best of all, one of our local chiringuitos now charges 80 cents for a coffee and 1 euro for a caña. Happy Days! There's nothing better than sipping a cold beer in a chiringuito on a sunny winter's day (not today - it's raining!)

Yeah, it would be a shame if they were moved, although I feel for elcantal's situation....it would do my head in if I lived near them.

We actually recorded a video for the Siesta Show about this.  You can watch if you didn't catch it the fist time round.

Justin

Okay everyone!

Whether you love them or hate them, they are part of the Spanish Culture.... the essence of the quintessential Spanish Holiday!

So, as with many EOS Siesta TV Shows, a petition was born and/or emboldened...

Save the Chiringuitos Petition

TechNoApe

You said earlier that now you live in Spain, you never visit them; so why are you organising a petition to save them? For holidaymakers to have a 'fun' 2 weeks?

Do YOU live near one?

Please also consider that a Chiringuito in say, Marbella, Torremolinos (and other concrete stretches of the coast that reflect Spain about as much as New York and Las Vegas reflect the USA) is a completely different entity to those found in the more remote stretches struggling against the onset of high rise monstrosoties,McDonalds,and fish&chips etc.

I want them to stay; I just want them regulated to fit the locality and the resident population ie. the ones paying IBI, Basura bills and Spanish Income Tax. The ones who love Spain as Spain and not as an outpost of a long gone British Empire to be used/abused as a playground.

There are some great chiringuitos here in Manilva - and we still frequent them having relocated here nearly eighteen months ago.  It would be such a shame if they were forced to move/abandon their business! 

 Elcantal, Techno isn't arranging a petition!  It was started by Myra at Costa Advice Bureau in Estepona in association with some of the Chiringuitos in the area.  It's the reason we originally recorded the video.

We don't tend to visit many of them these days any way as they can be very expensive...although my friend has one and it is brilliant, but even more expensive!

I remember the good old days when you could eat there for a few pesetas.

Justin

Elcantal: "Please also consider that a Chiringuito in say, Marbella, Torremolinos (and other concrete stretches of the coast that reflect Spain about as much as New York and Las Vegas reflect the USA) is a completely different entity to those found in the more remote stretches struggling against the onset of high rise monstrosoties,McDonalds,and fish&chips etc."

Not sure I follow what you're saying here. Are you one of these people who say that anywhere with any kind of development is not the "real" Spain? Are NYC and Las Vegas not the "real" USA? Is London, therefore, not the "real" UK? I don't really understand your point.

"I want them to stay; I just want them regulated to fit the locality and the resident population ie. the ones paying IBI, Basura bills and Spanish Income Tax. The ones who love Spain as Spain and not as an outpost of a long gone British Empire to be used/abused as a playground".

So, it's just Brits abroad causing the problem? Strange, because in this part of the "fake" Spain, the vast majority of the punters in the Chiringuitos are Spaniards. And boy, are they a noisy bunch!

Yes roberto, they are a noisy lot which is fine until it goes on until 6am. The Spanish residents here are petitioning the Ayuntamiento for more regulation not for abolition. Academic now of course as they will come under the control of the Junta in April.

Yes also to my comment re New York and Las Vegas; you should try it for yourself or ask an American. As for London; I can't say anymore, long time no see.

Hi Roberto,

One of the most popular restaurants in our town has a menu del dia for 4.95 plus a free toy for all kids (personally I'd rather eat in a restaurant full of smokers, but that's just me) and best of all, one of our local chiringuitos now charges 80 cents for a coffee and 1 euro for a caña

What's the name of the restaurant and the chiringuito please?  We usually go to Bodega Quitapenas, which is very reasonably priced and for me, is one of the best seafood places on the coast.

Elcantal, I have lived and worked in the US and have been in both NYC and Vegas, and unless I was dreaming, they were both very real. I'm curious to know where in the US you regard as the "real" US? And also what exactly about Torremolinos and Marbella makes them not Spanish? Not looking for an argument here, just genuinely curious as to your point of view.

I'm sympathetic about the noise issue - I hate the noise in Spain as much as the next guiri, but my earlier point was simply that by "regulating" the chiringuitos, the problem will just move elsewhere. Obviously, so long as that is somewhere away from you you'll be happy, which is fair enough! We used to suffer from the bottelón but thankfully it's moved on - don't know where to exactly, but it's now somebody else's problem and frankly I couldn't care less, so long as it doesn't come back to my doorstep.

Sanchez, I was referring to Nueva Lanjarrón (Calle Europa), and the chiringuito I don't kow the name (or even if it has one) but it's the first one on Carihuela beach at the Torremolinos end.

Roberto, no argument sought; it's good to exchange views. I don't wish to disparage Torremolinos. It was actually the first place I ever visited in Spain back in the '60s. I have fond memories of a bar called 'The Galloping Major'; don't suppose it's around anymore. My next visit was in 2008 so you will understand how I found it so different. The same applies to Fuengirola and even to Benidorm.

My point is that they cannot be compared with say the Pueblos Blancos of inland Andalucia or even cities like Sevilla, Cordoba etc. (I mean the old cities not the modern suburbs).

As for New York, Manhattan in particular; I love it as does my wife. But you cannot compare it with upstate NY State or the small towns of Vermont or Connecticut. I gather from American friends that most US citizens have never been beyond their own State Capital and don't even wish to. I imagine you wouldn't compare London with Henley-on Thames or the Jurassic coast of Dorset.

I live in the far east of Almeria Province (Spaghetti Western country). We have no high rise building by law (3 stories max). We are trying to preserve our coastline and we have Greenpeace on our side. Unfortunately we currently have a local administration bent on introducing 'modern tourism' to the extent of allowing beach bars (Spanish and others) to blast us residents with incredibly loud music until 6am, 7 days a week during the season as part of its effort to attract tourists. Of course most of them are buying their booze from the supermarket, having one drink in the bar to get a glass, then getting legless on the beach (or on my garden steps) with their own supplies; and I don't just mean alcohol!

Anyway, as I said before, we shall have to wait until 1st April when the Junta takes control.

Hope I've made myself a little clearer (maybe I'm just getting old).

It's good to talk,

Saludos

 Love them would hate to see them go, its part of spain for goodness sake.

Jeanie 

The Galloping Major is still going and is usually our bar of choice for a quiet drink in the evening. Been the same owners for 46 years - dad does the days now, son does the late shift. Have to say, though, we popped in for a drink last week and there was literally nobody in there. Even the owner was outside having a smoke! It's nice that it's smoke free inside, but at the moment it's rather chilly outside in the evenings, and in the summer they have THE best a/c in town, so inside is the place to be - but entirely on your own? You now have to go outside to order a drink!! I preferred suffering a bit of 2nd hand smoke. But that's another topic for another thread......

Yes, I understand where you're coming from a bit better now. And yes, maybe you're getting older (no offence meant here) because I think the older we get the more change we inevitably live through, and the more nostalgic we get for the "good old days". Some call it "progress" - generally the business owners & tax collectors who will benefit financially from development, and the younger generations (of whch there's strangely more and more the older we get) who don't remember it any other way and can't imagine life without mobile phones and Facebook. Or in this case, beach parties 'till 6am in the vicinity of people's homes.

Strange that the local authorities want to encourage late night loud music bars, because most other areas I know of have for quite some time now been trying to do the exact opposite. We lived in Mallorca in the late '90s when the authorities there decided to try to "attract a more upmarket brand of tourism" by forcing the roudy bars (well, all bars in fact) to close their doors at midnight and bring in their terraces. Personally I think it was a case of the fat cats in the town hall had made their fortunes by selling their land to rich Germans at hugely inflated prices, and now wanted the foreign tourists to b*gger off back where they came from. The shame of it was that places like Palma which used to have a vibrant bar and restaurant scene are now dead and dull.

Sadly, because usually one party or another have a private agenda for some ulterior motive, a reasonable compromise seems to be unattainable in such cases. It always seems to be all or nothing.

Sanchez, I was referring to Nueva Lanjarrón (Calle Europa), and the chiringuito I don't kow the name (or even if it has one) but it's the first one on Carihuela beach at the Torremolinos end.

Thanks for that Roberto.  I'll check it out next time I'm along that end of the coast.

I live in the Province of Almeria, in Andalucia, Spain.  An area of the world rich in musical heritage. Indeed, the village next door – Mojacar was revived in the 1960′s when the then Mayor invited artists and musicians to buy the derelict homes of this deserted and forgotten town for just ten pounds each. It was a revolutionary idea – and it worked. Mojacar slowly came back to life, and was fed and financed by a slow but steady tourist industry, clearly distinct from the ‘lager lout’ culture of Benidorm, much further up the coast.

Many foreigners moved here, Brits, Germans, Scandinavians, all bringing their dreams and creating a new economy. But dark clouds loomed on the horizon. As the prominent local families had finally amassed their fortunes from the tourism trade, and swapped their horses and carts for Mercedes, they decided to systematically set about killing the goose that laid the golden egg.  Mojacar, once on the verge of a successful 10 month tourist season thanks to our wonderful climate, saw its trade wither like an old Rioja grape on the vine. August is now about the only time the bar owners get to redress the horrendous losses they make during the rest of the year, and yet the bars have had to cancel the entertainment that would bring in the business, for fear of falling foul of the regulations. That’s a lot of ‘effin there. Damn right.

Dreams began to die on an almost daily basis, as people returned home, broke, and disillusioned.  Now – the fate of this once renaissance village seems to be finally sealed once and for all. The ‘powers that be’ (I shan’t use the word Mayor, as they don’t even come close to the vision shown by their 60′s counterpart) – Have decreed that all bars be fitted with a noise control machine (decimeter) – to be paid for by the owners of course – at 1,500 euros a shot – and to be set at 55 decibels. I fart louder than that.

So, a fait accompli then, because if the bars are reckless enough to book live entertainment, they cannot fail to break the new law. Apparently, if the police are called twice to any venue, the place will be shut down. This, make no bones about it, is Fascism by any other name. What kind of mindset implements laws to kill the very culture that helped rebuild this magical place? It disgusts me, and I state here and now that I find these people beneath my contempt, and their actions reprehensible, not to mention inexplicable.

Oh, and by the way, we have the highest unemployment rate amongst the young of anywhere in Spain.  Yeah, the bosses are doing a great job.

LONG LIVE MUSIC – SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD, AND PLAY IT LIVE!!!