Last orders – Barcelona bars and restaurants' pandemic struggle
Cafe culture and eating out are at the heart of the Barcelona lifestyle, but the Catalan capital's bars and restaurants - all 9,000 of them nearly - have had a tough year trying to survive amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Roger Pallarols from the Barcelona Restaurant Association explains why he thinks the measures have been too restrictive and the financial help insufficient. Alan Ruiz Terol talks to the owners of two of his favorite spots about their struggles – Rafel Jordana of La Bodega d'en Rafel and Mario Pérez Ruiz of 7 Vides bookstore who used to run Pizzes l'Àvia in the Raval neighborhood. Cristina Tomàs White, Cillian Shields and Lorcan Doherty remember some of the iconic restaurants lost to the pandemic and ask whether the return of tourists to the city will be enough to ease the sector's woes.