This terrace situated in a main boulevard of the Recoletos area in Madrid no longer belongs to the historic Café Gijón. Last week, Madrid City Hall approved a proposal which will see Endre Santa Engracia, a large company, take control of the coveted area after a process of public bidding that included the owners of the café.

The starting price was 65,000 euros. The winners, who had recently won a municipal bid for the cafés at Madrid Río, offered 144,000 euros, doubling that of the café owners at 70,000. The decision was purely money-based, with the city council leaving all other factors out of its consideration. Many, including the Socialist leader in the municipal council, Jaime Lissavetzky, had called for a debate on the cultural implications of such a change.

The concession will last 15 years, and is renewable in equal periods until the maximum tenure of 75 years. Prior to this, Café Gijon controlled the terrace for decades, and the final period of this ownership saw the annual price rise to 46,000 euros - the new price, then, signifies an increase of over 200 percent.

In February, a spokesman for Café Gijón told EL PAÍS that the loss of the terrace would put the future of the business at risk, and at the very least, the fate of its 42 employees.