Popular Torre del Mar beach bar pulled down after 18 years of operating without licence

Food and drink

The owner of Berebere, which was situated on the beach in the eastern Costa del Sol town, has said that the business was forced to close down "due to a lack of support from the town hall"

Eugenio Cabezas

Spain's coastal authority, La Demarcación de Costas, has carried out the demolition of Berebere beach bar, situated on the western end of the beach in Torre del Mar on eastern Costa del Sol.

The bar was closed down by Vélez-Málaga town hall in October 2025 for not having a municipal licence. The demolition brings to an end a business that had been operating for 18 years.

The action taken by the coastal authority and the town hall has provoked a strong reaction from the owner of the business, José María Alba, who told SUR that he regretted the outcome and argued that the business “had been trying for years to regularise its situation”.

Alba maintains that he had a favourable, albeit not yet final, court ruling following an initial attempt by Vélez-Málaga town hall to close the premises in 2021.

Subsequently, following the closure order issued last October, the business owner lodged another administrative appeal, although the interim measures he had requested were not granted in those proceedings. This development ultimately enabled the coastal authority to take action, leading to the demolition of the building.

Alternative location

Alba explained that the coastal authority had suggested considering an alternative location for the beach bar. However, Alba claims that this solution was not found "due to a lack of support from the town hall". He explained "The coastal authority gave me the option of finding an alternative location, setting the beach bar back 30 metres, but the town hall has not supported me."

The business owner also maintains that the closure has forced him to initiate a redundancy procedure for 23 staff and argues that his business was in “a similar situation to that of 15 other bars in Torre del Mar with licence applications currently being processed”. In his case, he states that he had been trying to regularise the business’s operations since 2016.

“I don’t want them all to be shut down; what we were asking for was common sense and support for business owners,” argued Alba, who pointed out that Berebere had established itself as a well-known venue in Torre del Mar. He added that Berebere had been awarded a ‘Solete’ by the Repsol Guide, a recognition which, in his view, demonstrated its gastronomic and tourist significance. Furthermore, it appeared on the ‘Best Chiringuito 2024’ list in ‘Tapas’ magazine.

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