Bars in Soller's Plaça Constitució will be obliged to close during the final Moors and Christians battle of the town's Firó celebrations. The measure is part of the town hall's safety plan for the fiestas, but the bar owners are going to be seeking compensation. The day of the Moors and Christians is when they make money to offset low levels of business at other times of the year.
The precise nature of this compensation has yet to be decided, but the bar owners are hoping for an agreement with the town hall. The alternative that has been proposed - that they set up in a location nearby - is "very complicated" on account of, for example, the nature of stalls that would need to be put in place. Meanwhile, Soller's councillor for citizen participation, Laura Celià, anticipates meeting with the bar owners in the next few days in order to try and arrive at a solution.
In previous years, special bars have been placed outside the bars themselves, but this is something which Celià says clashes with provisions of the safety plan. She adds that the bars would, in any event, only have to close for a few hours.
The town hall and the organisers of the battle face a real problem with satisfying all parties in gaining agreement on complying with the safety plan, as a further issue has arisen in respect of the "Nit Jove" party. The town hall wants this to be relocated from the square but finding an ideal alternative is not proving to be straightforward. Initially, the suggestion had been the car park next to the secondary school, though now it would seem that another square - Mercat - will be the preferred option.