Íñigo Onieva has been left composed and without a new professional project a few hours after it was announced that he could have become one of the new partners of the mythical Café Gijón in Madrid, home to intellectuals and a meeting place for famous people, such as Camilo José Cela, Gerardo Diego or Benito Pérez-Galdós.
Onieva was left without a job just a month ago, after being fired as director of business development for the Mabel Hospitality group; and new information suggested that he had become a minority partner of the emblematic local along with a group of investors to save it from bankruptcy, in order to “modernize” it. Well, it seems that there would be no such new project – not even this precarious economic situation of the premises, because even Café Gijón has issued a statement disassociating itself from this information.
This alleged project was going to take place at the beginning of 2024, and its objective was to modernize the emblematic place to make it one of the fashionable points of the capital. However, as Semana has learned, Onieva is not only not a member of Café Gijón, but there is also no agreement between Tamara Falcó’s fiancé and the mythical café.
Thus, as the aforementioned publication indicates, “it is not true” that Onieva has a new job in the café-restaurant, neither as a minority partner, nor as public relations, a job he carried out in his previous company. What they do admit from Café Gijón is that there have been “negotiations with an investing company”, but nothing has been signed.
From Café Gijón, a statement was also issued through its social networks, to make clear its disassociation from this information. Currently, the place is managed by the family of Gregorio Escamilla (died in 2009), with extensive experience in the world of restaurants; and despite having received different proposals from investment companies, there is no signed agreement.
“We would like to flatly deny the aforementioned news and state that it is absolutely false that Café Gijón has been sold to anyone,” they say from the Paseo Recoletos premises, “It is completely false that we are in bankruptcy or bankruptcy,” they insist.
The venue, located in the central Paseo de Recoletos in Madrid, is one of the leading meeting points in the capital. Very close to Plaza de Colón and the Cibeles fountain, it is one of the most attractive places for investment companies, which have not ceased in their attempts to gain control and management. However, the Café continues to be run by the Escamilla family.
Founded in 1888 by Gumersindo Gómez, it is one of the few social gathering cafés that survive from the almost twenty that existed at that time in the capital. Illustrious figures such as José Canalejas, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Benito Pérez Galdós, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, Camilo José Cela, Fernando Fernán Gómez or Sara Montiel passed through its tables… Its atmosphere, staff and customers were regular protagonists of gatherings and modern literature.
