Mallorca bay beach bar shut down due to environmental and health risks

THE Balearic government has shut down a distinctly no-frills beach bar which had been serving up food and drink in Manacor’s Cala Varques cove for several years.
Environment department officers supported by National and Local Police and the IBANET Balearic Nature Institute moved in on Friday to remove some of the stuff on the premises and to seal what it was not possible to take at the time.
The following day Manacor Council went back to finish the job with the help of Environment officers.

The regional Environment and Territory ministry reported that a Palma court had given legal authorisation for the bar closure on the basis of documentation provided by the Balearic government which set out the environmental and health risks of the facilities.
A statement from the department explained that the judicial authorisation had been needed due to the fact the bar owner has a document from a notary certifying that the beach bar is his home, and a legal case has been going through the courts since May last year.
The owner has refused to dismantle the bar three times, despite a regional government resolution issued in April 2019 adopting urgent provisional measures obliging him to do so and to stop the commercial activity.
Environment department said it had got to the stage where the bar closure was “urgent and necessary” due to the “serious environmental damage” in a location with Place of Community Interest status, and due to the “serious risk” to public health.

“Today’s action is the culmination of more than three years’ work, during which the Environment department has been forced to act in the face of the inaction of the competent administration, in this case the Coasts Demarcation,” maintained Balearic regional Environment minister Miquel Mir.
He said he was confident the dismantling of the bar would be completed without further obstacles.
Manacor mayor Miquel Oliver expressed his satisfaction at the return of the cove to its natural state.
“Not only has the tourist season finished for the beach bar, but the bar is definitively finished,” he confidently commented.