The street vendors of the Santiago Bernabéu, famous for dyeing the streets white with their stalls full of Real Madrid scarves and t-shirts, presented a complaint to the courts this Monday against the city council after moving their stalls to new locations that they consider economically unviable. A total of 87 families, who for decades have carried out their commercial activity around the stadium, claim to be going through financial problems as a result of the continuous displacements carried out by the council under the pretext of the works surrounding the sports venue. According to the group, the relocation has not only moved them to places with low footfall, but has also left them at a clear disadvantage compared to other merchants who have received more favorable treatment. This lawsuit is the second they have made, after filing another last Thursday, which was processed with the law firm AUREN on behalf of the vendors of the known as “Castellan esplanade”, given that they cannot set up the stalls in their usual area due to the transfer of the surface for commercial exploitation to Real Madrid to build two parking lots, after winning a public tender by the City Council of the capital. October. This project was one of the reasons that the City Council used to make the transfers, along with the works on other streets. This Monday’s complaint was carried out by the legal services of the Professional Association of Street Vendors and Fairs of the Community of Madrid. Meanwhile, this Tuesday Bernabéu Market will open its doors, a project located in the stadium where there will be restaurants and specialized gourmet stores, among other services. The Galician group Amicalia, through its subsidiary Restanima, has been in charge of developing this project, which is based on a 10-year concession with Real Madrid and which has involved an initial investment of eight million euros. The market, which will be accessed through the Plaza de los Sagrados Corazones, has an area of 3,000 square meters and will be open seven days a week. «I see it as phenomenal, but it seems that we can’t be close. Surely in this project they will take tables and chairs outside on match days. I think we can all fit in. We only come 40 days a year at most. It’s not Real Madrid’s fault, but the City Council’s fault,» explains Marta García, one of the affected vendors. after clarifying that she and her teammates have the support of supporters clubs and fans, although the club remains neutral in this conflict. Also between December 24 and 31, Mavidad Bernabéu, a Christmas theme park, will take place at the Real Madrid stadium. «In July we were entitled by law to a 15-year extension in the same location and conditions as before. The Municipal Board of Chamartín has renewed us, but has moved the 87 positions. Some have had to move more than 500 meters away from the stadium,» explains García. «When you go to the beach, you either eat the ice cream on your towel while watching the sea or you don’t. Well, this is the same, we need to be close to the Bernabéu, it is the excitement of the people when they enter and leave the venue that drives them to take a scarf or a soft drink, they are not going to go looking for us,» he says. He assures that they have been requesting meetings with the Chamartín Municipal Board and the popular councilor Yolanda Estrada for more than six months. “We only got one in February, he promised us that another would be held in March and it didn’t happen,” he says. In his case, it remains on Rafael Salgado Street, although in another location. “I am one of the least affected, those in Plaza de Lima are much worse, but I already suffered a lot when they did work on this street,” she explains. From March 2024 to April of this year he stopped setting up his stand. «They moved me 300 meters from the Bernabéu. I opened the first day, I made a box of 60 euros, when before I made 1,300 in a match and I decided to close,» he remembers after clarifying that the works finished in October of last year, but until six months later he was not allowed to return to where he was. “They told us that if the report of a traffic light was missing, that if they were waiting for a traffic signal… Until they placed an ice cream cart and we said that if this one was there, so were our scarves,” he says. He explains that in most transfers they were notified within 24 hours and in writing. «We have not had a single complaint, neither from the neighbors nor from the Municipal Police. All the reports are favorable, both from Civil Protection and from the firefighters,» she assures after clarifying that her products are official and that her stalls do not interfere with the evacuation of the stadium or other safety issues. García combines her work as a street vendor with another sales position, but insists that «many families eat from Real Madrid and have been doing this all their lives.» Not only those who sell promotional items for the club are affected, but also those who have stalls selling drinks and nuts. “If it costs 60 euros for bags of ice to keep the drinks cold and they make 120 euros per box, they stop opening,” says the woman. He explains that his colleagues from Concha Espina Street have been displaced along the paved road. «It was approved by the Government Board on July 24, the period for allegations came out in August, it is still not even approved by the Madrid City Council and my colleagues are not working, when the kiosks and terraces of the bars remain in the same place and even expand their tables if there is a game. They discriminate against us,» García denounces.
Temporary locations
As of July 30, all vendors are in temporary locations. «It is this temporality that leaves us defenseless because they cling to the fact that it is a temporary measure, but we do not receive news or see progress. There is still not a single fence for the works on Concha Espina Street,» says the woman, who has been behind the mobile counter for 36 years and has been displaced for the second time since the first league game. “It is without a doubt the hardest working moment I have ever experienced,” he comments. Also that of Conchi Martín, whose father began with a suitcase on the subway 60 years ago to sell handkerchiefs he made with the Real Madrid crest in glitter. «Years later, he got a wooden stand next to the stadium where he was already ordering screen-printed chulapo-style caps and wool scarves. I was already going there with him when I was 7 years old,» says the woman. He lived through the modification of the booth, now made of iron, and witnessed the growth of the business and the product. So much so that she and her three brothers decided to follow their father’s profession with various positions on the Castellana esplanade. «We have been affected for three years. My sister no longer rides and if I play for Atlético de Madrid, I go to the Metropolitan Stadium because I earn more,» he comments. He claims to suffer losses of 80% in his booth, increasingly further away from the Bernabéu. “We have been enduring restrictions due to construction for years and now we are facing ruin,” the sellers denounce in a statement. They have requested precautionary measures to alleviate their financial losses and hope to return as soon as possible to their historic locations to continue being, in their opinion, a symbol of Real Madrid fans and the atmosphere of each sporting event. Martín trusts in justice: “I have hope that this game is not lost.”