THERE'S NO CHARGE TO VIEW
KOKKINI HANI'S MODERN RUIN
 
       
  When it first opened about 10 years ago, this building site on the main drag in the centre of Kokkini Hani's business district was hailed as the Tri-Town area's ultimate fast food emporium, called Neon. It was operated by the family that owns the property, the same people who run Water City in Anopoli. However, because of various problems, the place was virtually ignored by tourists and locals alike, and Neon's light flickered out after the first year.
       
 
       
  "It's no wonder," recalls Louise Banks, a former Gournian who has since moved back to Blackpool. "I went there and ordered spaghetti carbonara and got something covered in a red sauce. It was awful." Other complaints from the local population ranged from rude service to poor quality.

The following year the place was leased by a couple of German entrepreneurs from Berlin at an astronomical rent, and quickly went belly-up again. Since then, the property has been dormant, in a constant state of decay, giving the entire business area an aura of depression and ruin.

"Business is bad enough around here," said a neighbouring store owner, who wished to remain anonymous. "That damned eyesore is like a cloak of doom covering this part of town. It certainly doesn't help in providing a pleasant shopping environment."

Why has it been empty for so many years? "The family that owns it has so much money, with Water City and everything else, like the Palladium, they just don't care," the shop owner said. "They want rent at more than double the normal rate, and if they don't get it – so what. No one can run a profitable business with that kind of overhead. Meanwhile, we all suffer."
       
 
       
  What makes matters even worse, according to local observers, is that the building is constructed almost entirely of glass, and serves as a natural beacon for strolling "window-shoppers" along Kokkini's main boulevard. And what do they see when they gaze through these windows? Remnants of the lost civilization of the 21st century – litter! Perhaps, like the famous Nirou archaeological discovery in Kokkini, some 4,000 years from now people may view this site as an important find, determining much about the 21st century through artefacts of litter. But, for now, it is just one thing, pure and simple: an unwanted eyesore.