Peter Besas, writer of Hidden Madrid tells the story of one of the vital iconic symbols of the capital.
Since 1936, one of the vital consultant symbols on the Puerta del Sol was the large illuminated promoting signal that till April 2001 was mounted on the roof of what in its day had been essentially the most elegant and opulent resort within the metropolis, the Hotel Paris.
The signal displayed the trademark of the well-known Jerez sherry (dry sack) Tío Pepe. Under the title of the wine you possibly can learn: “Sol de Andalucía embotellado” (Bottled Sun of Andalucía) and the title of its maker, González Byass.
To the left was positioned the corporate’s cute emblem: a bottle of Tío Pepe dressed up as an Andalusian gentleman, together with his typical wide-brimmed hat and quick crimson waistcoat holding, most appropriately, a guitar in his hand. The determine was a legacy from the times when the sq. had been full of promoting indicators and industrial billboards.
However, these had been subsequently banned by the municipal authorities, however an exception was made for the Tío Pepe signal, which was allowed to stay atop the constructing.
Despite the efforts of succeeding mayors to have the construction torn down, the elimination of the signal was repeatedly thwarted since for the residents of Madrid the commercial was, as a lot because the clock atop Government House or the Mariblanca statue, an intrinsic and acquainted a part of the Puerta del Sol. Although there was no authorized safety for the signal to not be withdrawn, it had unofficially change into a form of nationwide monument and was thought-about to be, to an extent, sacrosanct. 
When the outdated Hotel Paris closed in May 2006, and after standing empty for a number of years, the constructing’s new homeowners began a whole overhaul of the property and in april 2011 dismantled the Tío Pepe signal.
Then, in April 2012, the brand new got here that the constructing was being transformed into an Apple megastore and that the signal wouldn’t be re-mounted in its unique place. The information triggered an indignant response from Madrileños, and the controversy in regards to the Tío Pepe signal was taken up by the media. To add to the hullabaloo, City Hall made it clear that, legally talking, the brand new proprietor was in his proper to not exchange the signal and that nothing extra could possibly be completed about it.
However, our story has a contented ending. For in May 2014 the Tío Pepe signal, now repainted and repaired, returned to the Puerta del Sol, this time, to grace the roof of a constructing reverse Government House, from the place the “Bottled Sun of Andalucía” as soon as once more shines over the sq..
