James Bellamy, might well have had his plan scuppered by the Spanish authorities.
Bellamy has long boasted of his ambition to introduce his empire into Spain but after the Police and local council inspectors swooped on the shop, taking away dozens of products for analysis, it looks like the entrepreneur may now have vacated his premises giving into pressure from the local authorities.
For those readers who might have led a rather more sheltered past, a head shop is a retail outlet which specializes in drug paraphernalia related to the consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, and New Age herbs, as well as counterculture art, magazines, music and clothing. As such it was felt that the Benalmadena council considered it to be unwelcome.
The easiest way of sewing seeds of doubt amongst the community do is to post a police officer at the establishment’s door. This the Ayuntamiento apparently did, quite overtly, while the premises were being searched. Public perception of the business was immediately changed, the presence of police officers indicating that is was a business to be avoided.
Although at that stage the products were only being gathered for analysis the impression had been ‘nailed on’. There would now seem to be little chance of changing that public perception. As such it now seems likely that Bellamy has closed his business down.
The Brightly-coloured lettering notifying ‘punters’ of 'Legal Highs, Incense, Bath Salts and Novelty Items' had been wiped clean.
Benalmadena Town Council have yet to make any official comment on the closure.