Ciutat Vella stars in the Second mandatory night closure of supermarkets in Barcelona to make it difficult to drink. After the previous experience in the Poblenou Gulf Triangle this August, Barcelona City Council has issued opening ban between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. for food stores 10 streets of Raval and Gòtic.
Specifically, these are streets where high noise levels have been observed at night and where there is usually pedestrian traffic because they form part of the nightlife areas in the city centre.
Where?
The list is made up of Ferlandina, Joaquin Costa, Paloma, Tigre, Guifré, Peu de la Creu, Carme, Escudellers, Nou de Sant Francesc and Nou de Zurbano streets.
When?
The supermarkets of these 10 streets will not be able to open overnight starting this Wednesday. It not only affects the establishments that are already on these roads, but also those that could open on them in the future.
Why?
State law allows these businesses to be open 24 hours and they had become, in some cases, a provider of food and drink for people who improvised large bottles in the street. As reported by the council in a statement, the measure is “in order to reconcile its activity with the rest of the neighborhood.” He has stressed that he is aware of excessive noise in these ten streets, especially at night, and has warned that this measure will also have to be complied with by future establishments of this type that want to open in these areas in the future.
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The councilor of Ciutat Vella, Jordi Rabassa, explained that this limitation had already existed for some supermarkets since 2018, but that it was detected that it was not enough when it came to reconciling the activity of these establishments with the rest of the neighbourhood, “which is a priority for the district. The measure is part of the strategy against noise that the City Council is deploying in different parts of the city, after having measured the decibels in different areas of concentration of public establishments.
The precedent of Poblenou
The main precedent is the closure of supermarkets in the area around Pere IV, the backbone of Poblenou with sections that are very mortified by noise at night. In this case, the ban was applied to an area and not to a group of streets: it covers the entire area delimited by Meridiana, Tànger, la Llacuna, Pallars, Badajoz, Pujades and Marina. When it was released in August, it affected a group of 18 supermarkets, but it would also apply to anyone who opens there later.
