Malaga's first roast chicken spot, Pollos San Juan, turns 63

Pollos San Juan will be celebrating its 63rd anniversary on 31 July. It was back in 1963 that the grandfather of the shop's current manager, José Carlos Lacambra Espada, turned his old fruit shop into the first roast chicken shop in Malaga province and the second in all of Andalucía.

The family business has left its mark over the decades, becoming part of the memory of several generations of Malaga residents.

“My grandfather had a fruit shop, until a Catalan businessman put a business opportunity to him: opening a roast chicken restaurant,” José Carlos recalls. His grandfather moved to Barcelona to learn the technique, a traditional process that Pollos San Juan has kept unchanged.

The business was such a success that his grandfather bought another shop in Plaza del Teatro and a building in Plaza de Arriola, which housed a large cold store. Pollos San Juan was also one of the first takeaway home-cooking restaurants to open in Malaga city.