Popular Malaga province tavern closes after more than four decades of serving customers

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Venta Españita has closed for good due to the lack of generational succession after the founder's recent death at the age of 90

Juan Soto

Malaga

Wednesday, 17 December 2025 | Updated 19/12/2025 10:04h.

Diego España opened the beloved roadside tavern Venta Españita in Malaga province almost by accident. He started to get his family together for all kinds of celebrations right next to the hay warehouse where he worked. But, on 1 December, after more than four decades of trading, the establishment closed for good, following Diego's recent death at the age of 90.

SUR spoke to Toñi, Josefa Ángeles and Emilia - three of Diego's daughters (the fourth one died of an illness in 2022) - who have had to make the difficult decision due to the lack of generational succession. "I am going to be 65 years old. My children have finished studying and my body can't take any more after my father's death," Toñi, who was committed to the business, said.

Venta Españita is located on the old road from Malaga to Casabermeja. After Diego started gathering with his immediate family, more and more people continued coming: siblings, nephews, cousins, friends. They all wanted to go to Los Montes to celebrate their holidays. Then, travellers passing through the area started to ask if they could eat there. For decades, Venta Españita was a meeting point for several generations of Malaga residents.

Diego's death was a bitter blow for the whole family. Although he had just turned 90, he was still the soul and head of the tavern. He would still go to check how the place was running every day. "Now I feel a great sense of emptiness. It's as if we were going through a double bereavement," Toñi says.

The closure also came as a surprise and with hardly any time to say goodbye to the customers, who have become friends. The announcement was made on social media, in a post that has been flooded with messages of affection from friends, customers and even workers. "We just want to thank everyone, those who have always remembered us, the people who have come to see us and those who have taken a moment to write to us," Diego's children said.

From now on, Toñi hopes to rest after so many years of sacrifice. "Here we have gone 24 hours after 24 hours of work," she said. Not in vain, as all kinds of events, family parties, Christmases, communions and even New Year's Eve parties have been held there. "We have been lucky enough to have all kinds of customers."

Humble beginnings

Venta Españita officially opened in 1983, although the family began holding their famous gatherings four years earlier. It was one of the oldest roadside taverns in the area (second only to Venta Gutiérrez and Venta El Túnel).

Initially, they served customers in the hay barn itself, with wooden planks laid directly on the dirt floor and iron drums used as tables. Gradually and through sheer hard work, the family refurbished the entire building, installed a kitchen and added a floor to divide it into two storeys.

Originally, the family lived in a house in Ciudad Jardín (what is now La Pequeña Españita), but they soon decided to move to the establishment so as not to have to move. They settled in a small space on the first floor and slept almost in their clothes. "Next to the chimney and on cardboard," they recollect.

The three sisters remember countless stories. One time, there were these customers who really wanted to eat there, but there were no free tables so they took out the beach table and chairs they had in the car.

They also spoke with great affection about the origins of the Malaga city centre fair, in which they have played a key role. Toñi said that its creation was negotiated at a table in the market and that her father would take stew to Plaza de los Mártires every day.