The full council meeting in Pollensa will tomorrow consider a mayoral decree ordering the eviction of the Gelats Valls ice-cream kiosk in Puerto Pollensa. Mayor Miquel Angel March finally signed the order last Friday, it having taken some six months for the order to be made
In July, an Inca court was presented with a lawsuit naming March and the former mayor, Tomeu Cifre, and accusing them of malfeasance (abuse of public office). This drew attention to suspicions of the company operating the kiosk since the end of the 1960s having been shown favour, despite it now not having required authorisation. A document which had previously been registered with the town hall placed a figure of almost 725,000 euros sales by the ice-cream business (the Valls family) in 2014.
The current town hall administration did not call a public tender for the kiosk; this has in fact been delayed since January this year. Mayor March justified the delay because he wanted to tie the eviction in with the tender. (There presumably will now be a tender process.)
In all likelihood, Gelats Valls will continue to operate the kiosk until the end of the season, i.e. the end of October. Since the controversy over the kiosk blew up and became public in April, there has been a great deal of support for the family company, while the company that has brought the complaint of unfair competition (the whole of Puerto Pollensa knows which one) has been widely criticised. The Valls family maintains that it has had a concession ever since 1955. A problem has been a lack of documentary evidence to back this up.
8 comments
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The fact that Valls bought and invested a lot of money in a ice cream parlour very near to where the kiosk actually is obviously leads one to believe that they knew that sooner than later they would have to move from where they are now, which is fine for a small one man band ice cream outlet but not for a large structure that presently occupies a good part of the pavement.
Nobody is trying to close anyone down. Valls have other shops, including one that is cornet throw away from the kiosk, and as Richard Pearson states, a large ice cream factory in the Pollensa industrial estate. What some people are complaining about is that the kiosk is at the moment occupying land that doesn't belong to them and that they should comply with all legalities, like every other business on the Pine Walk is obliged to do, and submit a tender to allow them to continue trading in the area. Just because they have been trading in the vicinity for several years shouldn't mean that they shouldn't abide by the law.
I have visited Pollenca 3 times and almost every other day bought ice cream from this kiosk. It is a treasure to the town. I think it's disgusting that a rival firm is pushing to close it down. If I knew who the rivals were I will make them aware of my feelings on my next visit.
I think people should be told the facts before giving their opinion. Firstly, the business behind the kiosk belongs to a Pollensa family who have been in business for quite some time, and not only in the restaurant sector. The land presently occupied by the kiosk has to, by law, be put out to tender. just the same as the yacht club has to tender for the sea they occupy. Valls are not exactly tiny. They own a very large unit behind Lidl where they manufacture ice cream on an industrial scale for wholesale purposes. Finally if anybody wants to continue buying their ice cream they can go to their new and very expensive shop less than 30 yards from where the kiosk is at the moment.
Glad to see it go. 2nd rate ice cream.
Sad to see this go- many childhood memories coming and buying an ice cream from this kiosk.
Absolutely disgusted! This is a big focal point of the port and is well loved. Another chain trying to push out a family business. Shame on you!! I hope things will work out and they can re-open elsewhere. You have a lot of support Valls. good luck
Once again an old established business is being forced out by some Johnny Come Lately company you know who they are Gelats Valls has been in the Port for decades due to the greed of other is now being forced to close there is no justice !!