Even though he City hall He announced that he would veto it in any case, bar located on one of the slopes that young visitors passing by Barcelona They go up towards the top of the Carmel bunkers and serve at the foot of the road to the Turó de la Rovira. It is focus of tourism multitudinous, which has been going on for a long time, having often degenerated into overcrowding, noise and partying watered down with alcohol at odd hours. The neighborhood’s associative fabric fears that the place will become a “stop and inn” of those who give themselves over to drink on the tops of the steep neighborhood, prolonging the revelry and the inconvenience that keep their residents awake, says David Mar, member of the Consell Veïnal del Turó de la Rovira.
“The City Council told us that it was impossible for the bar to open because it cannot have license, which was impossible at all… “She said it until the meeting we had last week,” she reproaches. The premises ended up opening this Wednesday, fitted into an old home down Mühlberg Street. The district of Horta-Guinardó repeats that “it does not have an activity license nor can it have one” and that it is carrying out “the corresponding administrative processes to stop the activity.” The municipal government promises that “the closing “The establishment will be carried out as soon as the administrative procedure is completed.”
On the other hand, one of the three employees of the establishment, Sahid, has denied knowing anything this afternoon about the council’s announced intention for the tavern to close. Even more, he has stressed that they do have authorization and has exhibited a document of the town hall, issued on September 8, which states that the space of about 80 square meters will serve as a bar fast food. “We have permission to open until two in the morning, but we will be open until 11 at night. We are a normal bar, with tapas and food, for neighbors, not for tourists, but we cannot prohibit anyone from entering,” Sahid answers.
Out cocktails
The district comments that the owner presented a statement of opening of activity in September. The City Council has taken the path to invalidate it but, he adds, “the activity cannot be stopped & rdquor; as long as “the resolution to leave it without effect.
Consequently, the establishment can serve clients as long as the procedures do not culminate with an order of closure. The council does not specify how long the negotiations could last. The neighborhood movement fears that, between the imperatives of bureaucracy and the resources that the promoter brings in, the period will extend for months.
That the business has ended up lifting the shutter contrasts with the guarantees that the councilor of Horta-Guinardó, Lluís Rabell, and other district officials transmitted it to the representatives of the neighborhood movements. Suspicion in the neighborhood germinated when it became clear that the old house was being remodeled and a sign with the motto Bar Búnkers, replaced in recent weeks: the name of the business remains, but the images of some cocktails and hookahs that adorned the sign have disappeared, replaced by some glasses of orange juice and some jugs of beer.
“They told us there was no way it would open, but I always doubted it. I told Rabell that someone doesn’t spend money on reforms “If you don’t have anything to hold onto to open the bar,” says the president of the Carmel Neighborhood Association, Montse Montero. He reproaches “little sensitivity” to the district. “It is a lack of consideration that a bar is allowed to open when the neighbors have been this summer and before trying not to make bottles in the neighborhood”, censorship.
Sanctions underway
The district explains that, upon being alerted of the renovation of the home to transform it into a bar, a inspection. He ended up with two disciplinary proceedings. On the one hand, one is processed “for carrying out plays “older people without a license”, with penalties that range from 3,000 to 1.5 million euros, depending on the severity; The other fine in progress is due to “the installation of two signs” incompatible with the normativewith penalties that can range from 450.76 to 1,803.04 euros.
“It should not have come to this extreme. The City Council is quick on other issues, but here it will not apply a precautionary measure,” says Mar. The council responds that the adoption of measures that lead to sealing the business is only foreseen “when there is a risk evident on people. It is a “situation that does not exist,” he says. “Of course there is danger! -Montero replies-. There may be unwanted groups, fights, fights… It has not been considered health from the neighbors, nor the noises or the disturbances”.
“At the slightest infraction, we will report it,” warns Mar. However, he emphasizes that it is not a task that corresponds to the neighbors. “They tell us to notify us when we see a breach schedules or terraces. But then, what is the Urban Guard?”, he asks.
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“We have some black spots in the neighborhood and people are tired of calling Urbana. “We cannot be the guardians of bars or public spaces,” Montero ditches. The City Council says that the police will ensure compliance with the ordinances, especially with regard to the coexistence. He adds that the reinforcement of the Urban Guard activated after the agglomerations and last spring’s gatherings in the bunkers.
The neighborhood community advocates approving a use plan in the Turó de la Rovira, which “limits tourist apartments and businesses,” emphasizes Mar. “It is no longer a question of opening this bar now, but rather of opening more.” shops “that only attract drunken tourism,” warns Montero, who refutes that tourism is abhorred in Carmel: “We are in a tourist city and we have the Park Guell beside. But what is not normal is the type of tourism that they want to implement and that is not controlled.”