Old
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El Mercado de La Concepción is a market in La Linea that attracts shoppers from the local area as well as from Gibraltar. It closed for refurbishment and will soon open again:
Background: El Mercado de La Concepción will close its doors this Saturday to undergo a thorough remodeling. 139 years after its construction, the heart of the historic centre of La Línea and one of the first buildings of its kind built in Andalusia needs to take a break to remain the shopping hub. The works will begin once the transfer of all merchants to the provisional market, located on the Boulevard, is completed, which will open its doors on November 15. From there, the work should be completed on December 31, 2022 and the mayor, Juan Franco, hopes to be able to reopen it on January 17, 2023. It was on that day in 1870 when the segregation of La Línea from the City Council of San Roque was authorized.
The investment amounts to about 4.5 million euros: 2.2 from European funds, through the Urban and Sustainable Development Strategy (Edusi), while the City Council will contribute 2.3, a much higher amount than planned. The joint venture made up of Promociones Paniagua, from La Línea, and Grupo Manzano, from Arcos de la Frontera, is the successful bidder for the work.
In recent years, the Market had suffered a deterioration that made its viability practically impossible, in addition to a loss of the number of stalls. "It is better to close it for 14 months than to close it forever," Juan Franco has indicated on several occasions. As early as 1996, the upper floor of the building had to be closed for reasons of structural stability and accessibility. In addition, in 2005 a technical report was issued on the state of corrosion of the building's structure, which made it clear that it was impossible to guarantee its solidity and stability for the purpose for which it was designed. Corrective measures were already recommended at that time.
During the works, the stalls will be located on the Boulevard - This is a line of stalls at the border with Gibraltar.
It's in current news -
The merchants of the Mercado de la Concepción in La Línea show their disagreement with the amounts demanded by the City Council
The merchants of the Mercado de la Concepción have held, this morning, an informative general assembly, "with all the colleagues of the association of merchants of the market, in which we have explained the edict that the city council has sent, in which a series of conditions are specified to us to leave for the new market, and once this fact has been explained, We have decided that in principle everyone will have the power to go there, but adding that we disagreed with the economic amounts suggested by the City Council.
The other well-known market, just across the border, is open Wed and Saturday mornings -
La Linea is getting funding for projects from the EU. I'm not sure if this is a good thing (strings attached). Now, the merchants seem to be dissatified with amounts they will be charged, and I'm assuming this is when they move back into the new building. This market isn't the only one, but the border crossing situation makes it difficult for many Gibraltarians to cross and shop in La Linea, whereas before they could just walk around the border, presenting an ID. Madrid is definitely making it hard on La Linea/Gib, but that's probably the point. Then, everyone will hail the new biometric crossing as a solution, when it's about control. - My opinion. (These markets are made up of local vendors.)