There are lawsuits that revolve around a grand piano. The Toni 2, one of the great temples of Madrid's nightlife, has been living a silent family disagreement for a few months. César Tejero, one of the six children of Antonio Tejero, the founder, has decided to separate from control of the premises after being linked to him for 39 years. Or put another way: 14,000 mornings. "I couldn't take it anymore and after [the outbreak of] the pandemic I meditated," he explains. “Now I announce that I am leaving. I found out from the press about the re-inauguration [on Thursday, at 10 pm]. I am leaving because most of my brothers believe that there is a more profitable way to run the place and I do not share it. The reality is that none of them have worked overnight. They are envious at all levels because in the day-to-day running of the premises, much more money is earned than in an office ”.
Several people, in one night at Tony 2 LINO ESCURIS
To understand the phenomenon of Toni 2 in Madrid you have to travel until one night in May 1979. That day, Antonio Tejero, better known as
Toni,
He opened a unique place with his name just seven minutes from Gran Vía. The capital's early mornings were suddenly revolutionized around a grand piano. The place - with its tufted bar, its red fabric armchairs, its padded carpet, its gigantic kentian plants, its piano at the back of the business - began to fill with politicians, musicians, journalists, artists, young people, seniors, grandparents, couples, lovers, series and movies. It was not just any local. Here one entered and, if the night fell, became a star for a few hours. "I know all the clients," recalls César Tejero, "but nobody knows me on the street, because the only place I go with a suit is to work."
Until March 2020, the nights of the Toni 2 revolved around a black Yamaha C2 grand piano that, with the voices of the pianists themselves and the customers, watched the dawn as if it were karaoke aboard a submarine aloft sea.
Thus, for 43 years.
A resounding success that has been copied in some Latin American countries.
The relationship between the Tejero family, however, deteriorated over the years.
More information
Drinks in the most stale and wonderful piano bar in Madrid: this is what a morning is like at Toni2
40 years of Tony2: the Madrid piano
The Tejero are six siblings. Some reject the premises and others are in favor of maintaining the night empire that their father created. They are between 40 and 60 years old. Of all of them, César was the only one who was fully involved in the place since he was a kid, just 13 years old, on a Twelfth Night in 1982. “My older brothers went out to party and I wanted to go out too, but I I went with my father, ”he recalls. The patriarch of the family died on July 27, 2006 after respiratory failure, at the age of 73. “He smoked like a carter. I still regret not ripping the last of the cigarettes that he secretly smoked out of his mouth. "
Two years before his death in 2004, the father explained his vision of the future of the business. He began to delegate control of the premises to his children. For the guidelines of the night he opted for Caesar, since he was the only one of the brothers who fully knew the guts of the early mornings. For the bureaucratic management, I gave the papers to the two sisters. They would take care of the paperwork and keep up with the Treasury. And so it was, until the pandemic.
In March 2020, the coronavirus lowered the blinds on all nightlife. The Tejero family disputes flared up again. To the disagreements dragged between the brothers, a meeting between all was added that illuminated a change of direction of the premises. Three of the five brothers wanted the Toni 2 to be even more profitable, according to César. The mother joined this vision. "But, above all, they wanted to fully introduce the use of social networks in the premises," says César. And I refuse! What happens in Toni 2 has to stay in Toni 2. That's what I learned from my father! Another thing is that people upload their videos to their profiles, but putting the place on social networks is going to displace us from the essence of the business, from the loyal customers. Younger people will come, and the older ones will be lost. It will change everything.What my father instilled in me are human values and, unfortunately, all that will be lost ”.
Nightlife at Toni 2. (Archive) Lino escurís
César believes that Toni 2 will no longer be the same.
That the policy of his brothers will be to take everything virtually.
"Who will be the owner if no one from the family is going to be there during the early hours of the morning?"
“I have made more money than any of my brothers, but because I have been sacrificing my life for 40 years.
I have lived the Toni 2 as if it were my son.
I have not known how to do it in any other way, but always with a premise: the success of the Toni 2 is due to the squad that we have and that I have been building over the years.
If my father were alive, this would not have happened, he would have supported me 100%.
None of my brothers have management experience.
Now, the squad and the pianists, whom I love as if they were from my family, will be just numbers ”.
In the other family wing, her sister Yolanda offers another version of the brawl, without many details.
"What has happened," he explains in a brief two-minute telephone conversation with another of the brothers, "are family issues."
And she points to César: “He has stood up to my mother.
He has retired and no one has forced him.
We will open the place again and keep the template.
If he [Caesar] wants to retire, let him stay with the chickens and their dogs ”.
But Cesar confesses that he will not retire.
What's more, he is already looking for a new place to open another piano bar in Madrid in the coming months:
"A Toni 3?"
- (Laughs) No. I have the name in mind, but I can't say it.
Meanwhile, the temple of Toni 2 will reopen its doors after 18 months this Thursday at 10 p.m., an hour and a half before its usual time.
My big night
, by Raphael, will be the first that customers will hear: “What will happen?
What mystery will there be?
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