Restaurateurs say ban on top of new regulations on outdoor space threatens their survival – while residents claim the city’s real issues are being ignored

Enjoying a refreshing drink or a cup of coffee on the sunlit terrace of a bar or restaurant is a cherished pastime in Barcelona – and a fundamental feature of Mediterranean life.

“Terraces are part of who we are and how we live,” says Roger Pallarols, president of the Barcelona restaurateurs association. “For many people, the terrace is like their living room, especially as most of us don’t live in large apartments. If France is Europe’s kitchen, Spain is its terrace.”

Not everyone agrees. The city council claims many are illegal and take up too much public space, a rumbling dispute that took a new turn last month when the regional government announced plans to ban smoking on the terraces in Catalonia.

Since the indoor smoking ban came into force in 2010, driving smokers into the street, the number of terraces (which serve as de-facto smoking areas) has proliferated, prompting a crackdown from the authorities.

They haven’t listened to residents at all and they’ve allowed the restaurant industry to regulate aspects of public space

“The effect of the ban on smoking indoors was to double the number of outside tables in Barcelona from 2,500 to 5,000 and this saved many establishments from going out of business,” says Pallarols, who complains that his association wasn’t consulted about the proposed smoking ban. “The terraces have become a refuge for what are a significant number of clients.”

Indeed, Spain has a higher proportion of smokers than the EU average: about 22% of the adult population, according to Eurostat, compared to the EU average of 18%.

This new conflict is the latest battle between Barcelona’s hospitality industry and authorities over the city’s terraces.

They have been at the heart of a long running dispute between bar owners and locals. Being able to have a drink or a meal on a terrace is a big draw for tourists, and restauranteurs say they rely on this income. But residents complain their local bars have become overcrowded, and say people sit out late at night, get drunk and keep them awake. They have been urging the council to take action over the noise.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents complain terraces are overcrowded and noisy. Photograph: Ian G Dagnall/Alamy

This competition between residents and tourists for public space is most intense in Barceloneta, the city’s seafront neighbourhood, and Ciutat Vella, the old part of the city. Even without tourists, Ciutat Vella is one of the most densely populated urban areas on Earth, but it’s also the city’s most visited zone.

Last year the city and the restaurant industry agreed a new bylaw to regulate terraces – effectively, to reduce the number of tables. However, neither residents nor the industry are happy with the way it’s been implemented.

“They haven’t listened to residents at all and they’ve allowed the restaurant industry to regulate aspects of public space, thus putting the fox in charge of the henhouse,” says Diego Martín of the Gothic Quarter residents association in Ciutat Vella.

The hospitality industry, on the other hand, complains its implementation is crude as it doesn’t take into account local factors.

“If all you do is take away chairs and tables without thinking about how else the space might be used, in most cases it is then occupied by dubious and anti-social activities,” says Juan Carlos Arriaga of the Sagardi chain of restaurants, which employs approximately 300 people in the popular Born area of the old city.

If you take away the terraces that deprives us of the income we need to make in summer to keep paying staff over the winter

Under the bylaw, terraces have to close at midnight from Sunday to Thursday and at 1am on Friday, Saturday and public holidays. Pallarols insists that most of neighbours’ complaints about noise are made after the terraces close.

“The town hall has an obligation to try to strike a balance between all those competing for public space,” says Janet Sanz, second deputy mayor of Barcelona. “I understand that the hospitality business is complaining but if there are complaints about noise or over-occupation of public space we have to respond. I also understand that residents would like something stricter.”

“People like to sit outside, it’s the Mediterranean lifestyle,” says Kate Preston, who opened her first restaurant in the city in 2003 and now has nine, including the Taller de Tapas chain. “If you take away the terraces then that deprives us of the income we need to make in summer to keep paying staff over the winter.”

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“These are the only people who can afford to operate here,” she adds, pointing to a Starbucks on the site of what was until recently a family-run restaurant. “It’s killing the city.”

If terraces are a refuge for smokers, to many non-smokers and parents of small children they have become unhealthy no-go zones. But many Barcelonans – smokers and non-smokers alike - believe there are more pressing health issues to deal with, air pollution in particular. The city is up before the European Court of Justice for allegedly failing to take measures to improve air quality.

“Let’s be sensible about this: out in the open smoke tends to rise, so surely peaceful co-existence between smokers and non-smokers is possible,” says Clara Bortagaray, who lives in Ciutat Vella. “Better focus on what is truly polluting and a health hazard: traffic!”

Along with pollution, the other big issue in Barcelona is street crime, especially pickpockets and bag snatchers.

“Instead of banning smoking on terraces, it would be better if they did something about people having their bags stolen while they’re sitting there having a drink,” says Preston.

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