With all the building works going on at the moment, Plaza Cavana, calle Pintada, calle Carabeo, Balcon de Europa, plus those about to start, such as Plaza Canterero, and others that are planned, such as Plaza de la Ermita, you can’t help but have sympathy for some of the businesses, bars and shops, in these areas.
In Plaza Cavana, the bars tend to be small – La Fragata, Italica, Bar Cavana etc – and rely to a large extent on their terraces in the centre of the square. At least for these bars, the main tourist season has finished and it would not have been long, probably, before they were removing the alfresco option for the winter.
Most sympathy has to go to the bars on the Balcon de Europa. Yes, they still have their terraces, or most of them, but who wants to sit outside for a coffee and a relax when your view is a chain fence and a big hole in the ground? And dust. And noise from the diggers!
The terraces in the above picture would normally have been reasonably, if not fully, occupied.
There is little or no chance of compensation for loss of trade, particularly damaging at a time when the economy is still in trouble, despite the political banter, and businesses are either struggling to survive or are going under on a regular basis.