Benidorm Town Hall are cracking down on businesses who are breaching their trading licenses, or in some instances found some not to have any at all!

Inspections carried out so far this year have found a total of 306 infringements by bars, restaurants, cafes and shops - 3 of which were actually closed down. More than half of the violations related to bars and restaurants placing tables and chairs on their terraces - or rather on the pavements outside their premises.

Benidorm certainly has a cafe culture which since the smoking ban came into effect has forced smokers outside and so the importance of outside seating is critical to these establishments. In my opinion, so long as there is enough room to be able to pass comfortably without having to go onto the road there is no problem. But obviously there are the do-gooders who think otherwise.... whether they are members of the public or over zealous council staff toting up the fines generated! The officials should look at the problems created by selfish mobility scooter drivers who leave their vehicles parked on narrow pavements instead....

Hotel Bali in La Cala

Over the weekend an "outlet fair" which took place at the Grand Bali hotel in La Cala was also closed due to an "administrative violation".
Fifty participating businesses who had set up stalls inside the hotel were told that they would not be able to trade much to the anger of the organisers and traders. One expressed his anger by saying "When half of Spain is seeking work we are paying our taxes and trying to generate sales then told we cannot due to a technicality". The organisers had been in full correspondence with the Town Hall authorities and up until 11th July there were no problems - they had even obtained parking permits to load and unload from the police.

Many travelling exhibitions and fairs have taken place at various hotels in the past with no such problems - the hotel Don Pancho often has craft fairs and carpet sales within the hotel. It will certainly make traders think carefully if it is worth the hassle and aggravation in the future and so consequently lessen the choice and variety for holiday makers too! Smacks of short term gain long term loss....