By Andrew Atkinson

The President of the Alicante Restaurant Association César Anca has said that they are ‘drowning’ under the latest coronavirus legislation – that includes 5pm closing.

“This is once again drowning us more and more – as well as criminalising us – it makes no sense that cuts again come from leisure and restaurants,” said Anca.

“This comes while large shopping centres are bursting with people – where there is not a single capacity control their footfall. It is a real shame, he added.

“It is not possible to survive – without additional help,” said Anca.

New rules announced by the Generalitat include small businesses having a maximum capacity of 30% in a bid to slow down the increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

A statement from representatives of the catering, hotel and leisure companies read: “They are leading us to complete closure, with measures from the shutting of the hotel business at 5pm; the total ban on smoking and the reduction to four people, per table.”

The President of the Alicante Restaurant Association César Anca added: “We are still waiting for Ximo Puig to launch this ‘supposed’ package of aid for the hotel industry. At the moment they are just’pretty words’,”.

The President of the Provincial Association of Hoteliers, Mar Valera, said: “The next move will be to shut down completely. It is chaos – but we are still expected to pay the same taxes and autonomos.”