RICCOS Beach café in Yeroskipou is still standing after earning an eleventh-hour reprieve when bulldozers came flatten the popular beach café a year ago.
Riccos, whose real name is Andreas Xenofontos, told the Sunday Mail, “As long as I have breath in my body, Riccos will be here and will be open for everyone to enjoy.”
Riccos has had some form of café on the beach since 1975, but he doesn’t have a café licence. A year ago the bulldozers showed up with a court order to tear down his establishment. They were only turned back by a spontaneous human chain of supporters.
Paphos locals were horrified over plans to remove the popular meeting place, and according to Riccos, he has a petition of more than 3,000 signatures supporting him.
The structure on the beach has been pulled down twice in the last decade, and each time, the war veteran has put it up again.
Riccos is a considered local hero who fought in the 1974 war. A bullet fired by a Turkish soldier went straight through his neck as he climbed a flagpole in Moutallos to tear down the Turkish flag .He says he wouldn’t be able to find work anywhere else.
When he heard the bulldozers were on their way a year ago, he called a local radio station and announced on air that they would have to drive over him to reach his café.
Locals, tourists, friends and Riccos’ family banded together, and formed a human chain around the beach café. The demolition team retreated.
“It is a victory for the little man,” said Riccos
Riccos said he has improved his café and has already had a busy season so far.
“I’ve got no complaints,” he said. “I’m just as busy as last year.”
The rebel says he still hasn’t been granted a licence, “It’s been the same since 1975,the problems are all still there.”
He added, “It’s up to the officials to do their jobs now, although the Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis assured me personally that he would solve the problem within three months.”
Ricco met with the minister six months ago.
“I can’t see that there has been any intention shown by the councillors or the Mayor of Yeroskipou to be helpful as concerns my position,” he said. “I know of two similar cases in Coral Bay and their venues were granted licences, and there was also one in Polis Chrysochous.”
He believes this was mainly due to the willingness of local officials to help.
Ricco underlined, “My customers all want me to stay and that is my plan.”
Riccos rents the coffee shop from the Yeroskipou Municipality, and some councillors and locals have vowed to help him get a permit to enable him to stay on the beach he loves.
Work on wave breakers in the sea will begin in September as part of a massive upgrading of Yeroskipou beachfront. It’s thought that within the next few years some permits may be awarded as part of the revamp programme, and many believe, after 34 years that Ricco should be granted one.
Other businesses have sprung up along the beach area over the last year or so, and Ricco said, “These businesses dotted around are in a similar position to me and are operating without licences. I don’t mind them being here it doesn’t really affect me,” he said.
Riccos believes he has remained a popular destination with locals and tourists for more than three decades because of his personal touch, the location, the greenery, the trees, and plants and shrubs here and the natural feel to it.
“This is what people want; they don’t want concrete and big buildings.”
