Closure of Costa Tropical day centre leaves seniors without a meeting place

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Regulars at the facility in Calahonda have said they have been "playing dominoes and cards in the streets for a week"

MJ Arrebola

Granada

Thursday, 9 April 2026, 10:13

For more than a week now, the doors of the Calahonda senior citizens' centre on Granada province's Costa Tropical have been closed. For regulars, this centre is a meeting place, a place of company and entertainment, a second home where more than 20 pensioners find their routine, friendship and activities that allow them to stay active. The decision, taken by the Entidad Local Autónoma Carchuna-Calahonda, responds to "serious problems" detected in the use of the centre, according to the president, Juan Alberto Ferrer.

The president explained that for a long time the centre functioned normally and the pensioners themselves who were responsible for opening and closing the centre and taking care of the space. But in the last three months, younger people who were not members of the group started to come. According to Ferrer, they held birthday parties inside, smoked, misused the toilets and left it untidy.

Since the centre closed, a handful of older men still come to the place, but this time they sit in the street, in front of the closed door, with the pack of cards on the table and the dominoes in a row, killing time as best they can.

Inside, the chairs are empty, the tables are bare, the coffee machine is not working and the door is closed. Antonio Viña plays dominoes with his friends and says, "We old people have been playing dominoes and cards in the street for a week. We come here to entertain ourselves and now we can't".

Consequences

The more than 20 regulars at the centre have already begun to notice consequences. They say that some people have been forced to relieve themselves in the middle of the street, due to the lack of open toilets. "Many elderly people have urinary incontinence and need to relieve themselves somewhere."

Users like Antonio hope that the situation will improve as soon as possible: "The town hall has to be in charge of managing this area, providing staff and keeping the rules clear, so that we can enjoy the centre without problems. This is not Granada or Madrid, here we don't have a thousand alternatives to distract us".

His words were echoed by Miguel Rubiño, another of the affected locals who stressed that the only thing they are asking for is that the doors of the premises be reopened: "We ask that the centre be opened with staff to manage it and that the lack of control does not return".

After hearing the news that the centre was to close, some of those affected met with Ferrer to reach an agreement. They explained that the agreement reached establishes that the centre will be back in operation from today at 10am, at which time a municipal caretaker will be in charge of opening the facilities and supervising their use during the first part of the day.

Control of keys

The ALS has agreed that the caretaker will also come in the afternoon to supervise the centre until closing time, which has been set for 9pm after negotiations with the users.

The administration has indicated that it will send cleaning staff twice a week, especially to clean the toilets, although this measure is "insufficient" according to the users, who demand daily cleaning due to the high use of the space. It is also committed to organising the operation, controlling the keys and ensuring that the basic rules of use are complied with.