Laurence Dollimore
A BRITISH businessman has been forced to lay off 50 staff after he had his music licence suspended.
The owner of Sisu hotel – which was controversially firebombed earlier this year – slammed Marbella town hall for ‘killing the end of the summer’ for the mostly Spanish employees.
Londoner Neil Acland, 49, claims he is being discriminated against by the newly-reinstated mayor Angeles Munoz over hundreds of denuncias that ‘do not exist’.
“The problem is we are British, not Spanish, and right now there is an anti-tourist feeling and Munoz is targeting my business to look good,” he told the Olive Press.
“How come Starlite festival – which also has a denuncia and is very loud into the early hours of the morning – have now been given ten more years?
“The town hall has killed our end of summer months and I feel terrible that I’ve had to lay so many people off. I had promised these people jobs until the end of October, some of them have families.”
His hotel was front page news last issue after he released CCTV footage of the hotel being firebombed in March.
He claimed the attempt to close the hotel was over a dispute with the landlord and came after receiving death threats for himself and his girlfriend Valvidia, who is the manager.
Acland, who previously worked in Denmark, confirmed he was given just 10 days to provide evidence that he had been following noise pollution regulations.
It came after allegations surfaced in the Spanish press that he had been unplugging the hotel’s sound limiter, which he denies, following a reported ‘700 denuncias’ against the hotel.
“There are not 700 denuncias, there has been only ONE,” he continued. “There may have been 699 calls lodged by neighbours who want me out, but there has only been one official denuncia.
“I follow the rules and have been more than compliant,” he said. “Our music is during the day, it ends at 8pm.”
He insisted his lawyers were fighting to have the license reinstated for this year and, either way, they would be ‘back as normal’ next year.
He also insisted that his hotel was a clean and upmarket place that had ‘nothing to do with mafia gangs’.
“Despite the Marbella rumours, I have never worked with Russian or Colombian mafia, drug gangs or any sort of cartel, this is a strictly legitimate business.
“It is a €400 per night hotel, we are not low cost, we are bringing big spenders to the area, which only benefits the local economy.”
He claimed the actual owners of the building, which was previously the Lorcrimar Hotel, were to blame for the attack in March and were the ‘only ones to benefit’ from Sisu being shut or damaged.
They have been in a long-term legal battle with Acland, who they claim has not paid rent for eight years.
Good for the Marbella mayor. These crass, tasteless ‘club’ owners need to be controlled if not actually shut down for the benefit of the decent people making up the community. The notion that one can do anything if it produces business income is silly and dangerous.