One of the main gift, footwear, fashion, and handbag shops located on Paseo Juan Aparicio in Torrevieja had allegedly carried out its business for eleven years without having been granted an opening license, according to a municipal decree from August 2026 from the Public Thoroughfare Department. The company relied on a licence application submitted in 2015 to justify that it had a licence, but the Town Hall stated, in the file opened against the business, that this process did not have enabling effects and that there was no valid activity licence in force.
This irregular situation was confirmed following inspections by the Local Police in April 2025 at the premises, which kept a terrace set up on municipal public land without authorization for that financial year, in order to check whether occupation of the public thoroughfare had been requested and paid for. As a result of that visit, administrative documentation showed that it did not have a license either.
Following a notice to rectify the issue, the Town Hall ordered the removal of items installed on the public thoroughfare in June 2025. In this case, these were displays containing summer clothing, footwear, and accessories. However, the occupation continued. Further inspections carried out on 28th January and 27th April 2026 confirmed that the elements remained set up and that the occupation persisted without enabling authorization. The Town Hall then opened a new file and once again demanded their removal.
The well-known gift and fashion company appealed against that decision and requested the suspension of the order. The local council rejected the appeal for reconsideration, but left open a route for regularisation: the removal could be suspended if the firm provided a granted opening license, valid civil liability insurance, and proof of fee payments for 2024, 2025, and 2026 within ten days. The same shop is also subject to an urban planning infringement file for integrating a municipal palm tree into a product display canopy.
Municipal sources indicated on Monday that the business has now processed the licence to include it in the file and regularise its status. The company itself, Tomy’s Fashion Tribe S.L., stated that all documentation requested by the Town Hall has been submitted in due time and form. This includes the activity licence for the establishment, valid since the opening date of this sales point, as well as documentation proving that they are up to date with the payment of fees corresponding to the occupation of the public thoroughfare via the terrace until the end of the year. They indicated that they understand this to be a purely administrative issue that will be resolved and closed immediately, as all documentation and the situation of the establishment are fully regularised.
This is not an isolated situation. Some hospitality businesses along the same prime stretch of the seafront promenade have not paid for public thoroughfare occupation or submitted applications until being inspected, following the long period of fee exemptions granted by the Town Hall due to COVID between 2020 and 2023, in addition to setting out more surface area for chairs, tables, or product display zones than permitted. Furthermore, they face urban planning infringement files for installing canopies that fail to comply with safety and evacuation legislation or integrate municipal property, such as palm trees, into the terraces themselves. These are practices that the Town Hall is now attempting to tackle.
