Dom Corby is a semi-retired IT engineer of Irish origin, born in Essex and a seven-year resident of Valencia. He deplores the “modernisation” of Valencia, arguing that it is losing its soul…
I am a semi-retired IT engineer. I’ve been knocking around Valencia for about seven years now. I was formerly based in London but I have been here more than there now.
I am a recovering sufferer of people-fatigue,but friendly. I spent a lot of time helping local NGOs.
In the DANA period that still haunts me, I carried out 10 trips a day in a beaten-up old Dacia taking supplies to people in scenes straight out of Mad Max.
I am educated and experienced enough to know the odds are truly stacked in favour of the rich. Irish by descent, born in Essex but exiled due to being able to read… This is my view on the so-called “progress” of Valencia.
Little by little, the changes in Valencia are taking over. It is a very different city to what it was seven years ago, Ruzafa for one, back then until three years ago still had local old Spanish places.
Bar Dartin on Calle Puerto Rico for one, now gone. There was always an overspill of people who could not afford to live in Ruzafa anymore, into Jesus and Patraix.
In the past two years though, this has accelerated exponentially. The first sign were ceramic workshops opening up, then little by little the old shops and workshops closing down, replaced by tiny apartments.
Patraix was the closest you could get to Hackney or Shoreditch, before they were “gentrified”. Patraix is still diverse, but now walking down the calles, I am hearing English and Dutch more and more.
The place is losing its local Spanish feel, and when the Green Corridor is complete, that will ramp up prices and gentrification even more. One “expat” recently advertised his apartment for July and August on social media for July and August. The chancer was asking 4,800€ for the two months. That is even worse than London prices. It is becoming the home of spivs, swindlers and scammers, all the negative signs of gentrification that London went through. Will we never learn from prior mistakes?
The prices for flats are crazy now, our flat cost 46,000€ seven years ago. An inmobilaria visited recently on spec, and offered 250,000€ cash for it. Rentals are high, 400€ to 600€ for a room.
The Ruzafa effect is hitting the barrio, old Valencia is going fast… it is both heartbreaking and infuriating to see.