Malaga city hall orders the removal of around a hundred closed kiosks

Councillor Elisa Pérez de Siles said that they have ended the licences of those that have been closed for the longest time, and that many of them have been out of business for a year or more. "Many are dirty and are a nest for rats," Pérez de Siles said.

The regulations state that kiosks cannot be out of business for more than six months, except in exceptional circumstances. From the current notification, the owners of the expired licences will have one month to respond.

The owners of the licences are also the owners of the kiosks, so they are responsible for removing them from the public areas. In case of non-compliance, the city council will remove them and pass the bill on to the relevant party. After five months in storage, they will be destroyed.

The resolution of the licences comes at the same time as the draft of a new kiosk law, which was initially approved by the local government last January; the withdrawal of the licences will be the first step towards putting new locations in the city out to tender.

The new regulation will allow licence holders to sell other products that have been prohibited until now, such as prepared food, tickets for shows or for the placement of an ATM. As SUR previously reported, kiosks will be able to sell preprepared or reprocessed products, such as juices, slushies and take-away coffees through capsule machines, or prepared and pre-packaged food.