Since When?

I shall not identify the establishment in question, but let's just say that it is somewhere in Alcúdia. It hasn't opened yet and I fear that once it has opened it won't be open all that long. I hope I'm wrong, as no doubt some no small expense has been gone to in preparing the place.

Why might it not be open all that long? Well, its location isn't that good for starters. What it claims it will be offering also doesn't set the pulse racing. One element is a type of fritter commonly associated with parts of the Spanish mainland.

The location and the offering aside, the establishment does have a big marketing message. It is the "since" message. Since 1912 in this particular case. Having mentioned the place in conversation, it was suggested that this was the year a brewery was founded, thus implying that the brewery in question had perhaps helped with getting the place going. This could be right, but the brewery was in fact founded in 1904, even if it established itself in Madrid in 1912.

Whatever the link to 1912, however tenuous it might be, is there any value in making a thing of the "since" message? Plenty of bars, restaurants and other businesses do this, especially locally. Sometimes the "since" is genuine; other times it appears to have been either made up or be based on a year only partly related to the business.

There is a mentality among Mallorcans and the Spanish which lends apparent longevity and history copious amounts of credibility. Whether the same "since" message has much or any impact with tourists from different countries is probably doubtful. Do visitors go through a process by which they think, oh, look, this restaurant has been around since (add as applicable), it must be good, therefore we must patronise it? Some might, but most, I would suggest, do not.

Being able to say that a restaurant or whatever has been going for 50, 60, 100 or however many years, so long as it genuinely has, does establish it as not being fly-by-night, but the message can be one that targets the owners themselves; it is for their esteem. It is also a message that is inherently passive. Saying you've been in business for however long equals you (the punter) should buy our product or meals simply because we have been here for so long. Not always. There are restaurants which merit their boasting their longevity; it does all rather depend on the restaurant.

The Mallorcans do love their history or at least being able to draw upon history as a means of justification. As mentioned yesterday, the Fomento del Turismo appears to still be in existence partly because its history suggests that it should be. There are times, however, when longevity should demand a re-think, even to the point of consigning something to the history books.

A re-think is precisely what opposition groups of the uppity, leftist, nationalist tendency at Pollensa town hall are calling for with regard to Puerto Pollensa's military base. 75 years old on Monday, what better time than to declare it open to civilian access, as has been demanded for some years? And these some years are now probably sufficient to require their own celebration.

Why 75 years should be a reason for changing the base's status is anyone's guess. It is a convenient hook, but national defence ministries, as in Spain's Ministry of Defence, tend not to think along such lines, except when celebrating something military, though given the base's history (Condor Legion, Guernica bombing, Francoist associations), you might think they would prefer to keep it quiet.

At least with the base, however, it does have the advantage of being unique, as in there aren't any others in the immediate vicinity. If the "since" message is to be relayed, then it's best if it really stands for something significant. Which brings me to "The Bulletin". It is fifty years old this year. I happen to think this is a decent achievement; it's older than "The Sun" - by two years.

With the military base and with the paper, there is no disputing the "since" message, nor is there any disputing the significance of both. There is genuine history, as there is for some restaurants. There is one in Puerto Pollensa, Celler La Parra, which plays the "since" card. Since 1962, the same year as "The Bulletin". And the fact is that it looks as though it has been there since 1962. Not because it's falling to pieces, but because it has the feel and appearance of a certain and real antiquity and a reputation that has been forged over fifty years.

The since 1912 place doesn't have this. It is located in a modern "local". Since roughly the turn of the century. If history is to be aspired to, it has to be history in context. Otherwise it looks out of place.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.