Terrace Hours Reignite Tensions Between Residents and Business Owners: 'Tarazona is Not Alicante'

Recently, the Association of Restaurants and Leisure Venues of Alicante (ALROA) shared a video on social media comparing the terrace hours of Alicante with those of Tarazona de La Mancha.

The organisation representing the city's nightlife criticised the newly approved Public Space Occupation ordinance, which limits terrace hours to 12 hours on weekdays and an additional hour on weekends (during winter).

This is how they compare the conditions of the municipality of Albacete -12 degrees in winter, 6,130 residents and 13,000 tourists in 2023- with Alicante -temperatures of 22 degrees, 348,901 residents and 13 million tourists-. "The town of Tarazona de La Mancha can enjoy its terraces until 1:30 am," states the social media post by the organisation. "From November 28, Alicante residents will not be able to enjoy their terraces after 11:59 pm," the video includes.

"So yes, Barcala invites you to have a drink on a terrace, but in Tarazona de La Mancha," concludes the post, which also ironically notes "they see us with a Cinderella complex."

The campaign has not been well received by the residents of the city's Old Town, who have expressed their criticisms through a statement. "Alicante is not Tarazona de La Mancha, in this locality there is only one pub and it opens on weekends, most of the outdoor seating is for cafes that close at 10 pm and obviously this municipality is not a ZPAE, nor does it have any noise issues ('we would have solved it' claim the Town Hall)," explain the residents.

From this entity, they have explained that the regulations support a reduction in noise issues in the Old Town area. The neighbourhood has been a ZPAE since 2018 and "no measures have been taken as they were obliged to do, and permits have continued to be granted to nightlife venues or mobile discos both until dawn." They also criticise the outdated nature of the regulations in this regard -from 1991 and with fines still in pesetas- and demand the application of the Acoustically Saturated Zone (ZAS).

"For years, decades, the rights of the Old Town residents to rest normally have been systematically violated. The administration, despite the evidence, regulations, and reports, has looked the other way, the nightlife lobby is more powerful in resources and time than the residents and has operated with hardly any restrictions, in terms of hours or adaptation of venues," expressed the Laderas del Benacantil Neighbourhood Association.