The year was 2015 and the heir to the legendary Peret kiosk feared losing his business just before his centenary. To avoid this, he raised an offer to 60,000 euros per year that far exceeded the minimum of 14,000 euros set in the public tender. Thus the concession was guaranteed for a minimum period of ten years to be added to the 99 that the original concession contemplated.

The famous horchata temple in Alicante therefore celebrated its hundred years in 2016 within the Fuster family. The grandfather bought a flower kiosk that had been installed there just a year before and dedicated it to the sale of horchata, soft drinks and sweets. His son – the Peret who gave him his name – expanded the business, which barely stopped during the war. civil and during some period of reforms, and today there is no Alicante or tourist who does not know this corner located in the busiest area of ??the city.

However, the closure period forced by the pandemic, added to the recent works undertaken by the City Council in the area, have meant a significant economic hole for the company, which since the last quarter of 2021 has not paid the fee set in the public tender. and therefore accumulates a debt of more than 130,000 euros.

For this reason, the Local Government Board of the Alicante City Council agreed yesterday, Tuesday, October 17, to begin the procedure aimed at resolving the contract related to the administrative concession for the operation of an ice cream parlor on the Explanada de España.

The technical report on which the municipal decision is based – which grants a hearing period to the concessionaire – considers that the resolution is appropriate because non-payment of the fee is a justified cause.

Upon learning of the fact, the employees of the popular kiosk expressed their concern, although they trust that the current managers will resolve the situation. “There are 14 families that depend on this business,” they told La Vanguardia. The workers consider that the fact should be taken into account that, in addition to the large drop in income that occurred during the pandemic, the works carried out on the Paseo de los Mártires de la Libertad, which borders the Peret, have meant a loss of about 140,000 euros last summer compared to the income of the previous one.

Furthermore, as this newspaper was able to verify, the works have not only not been completely completed, but yesterday they continued to be carried out next to the Peret terrace, which at noon yesterday did not have the presence of a single client, when the usual thing would be that several tables were occupied, as in fact happened in the rest of the terraces on the promenade that are no longer directly affected by the urbanization work.

This was not the only contract resolution that the Local Government Board decided to approve yesterday. Once again, the Alicante City Council has decided to break the contract with a construction company in charge of works already underway, the remodeling of Avenida de Jijona, an important artery that connects the urban center with the northern area of ??the city.

The work should have been completed last July, but it is suffering a considerable delay and the council understands that the contractor, Grupo Bertolín, has failed to comply with what was signed to the point of justifying the termination of the contract. This is the same company that was in charge, among others, of the work for the pedestrianization of Avenida de la Constitución, a work that was highly criticized for the poor quality of the pavement, which had to be renovated recently.