La Caleta dodges its eviction for now: "It seemed impossible"

Happy ending for La Caleta. The beachfront restaurant serving seafood dishes in Sant Vicenç de Montalt since 1995 has avoided the closure of the premises. This has been decided by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 9 of Barcelona, which has temporarily suspended the eviction of the restaurant that was planned for this Thursday, July 30. For now, the postponement is for three months, until the end of the summer season.

The business celebrates the resolution and has sent its thanks to everyone who has echoed the events. "It seemed impossible," assure the Casado family, the current generation at the head of the restaurant, in a publication on their Instagram account. "Thank you to all the people who have written to us, who have called us, who have come to the restaurant these days and who have shared our story. The affection we have received has been immense," they emphasize.

The events that explain why the eviction notice quickly went viral on social media and caused a stir in the municipality date back to 2017. That year, the property where the premises are built passed from Adif to the Demarcació de Costes de l'Estat de Barcelona, but, during the transaction, the owners of the premises were not notified of the change.

Thus, even though La Caleta had signed a contract with Adif according to which they could continue working on the land for another fifteen years, in mid-July, Albert Casado received a letter from Costes announcing that he would be evicted because the land does not comply with the regulations of the coastal law. "It's a mess because, for starters, we didn't know about it, and then, we have continued to pay the rent to Adif as always; we have been paying semi-annually for seventy-one years," assured Casado told ARA.

When they received the notice, the restaurant said goodbye to its customers through social media, convinced that they would not be able to resolve the situation. "Even though all my papers are in order, it's as if the judge had disqualified the current contract I have, because there is a final eviction order," Casado remarked.

However, the mediation of the Sant Vicenç de Montalt City Council with the General Directorate of Coastal Policies, the Demarcation of Coasts of Catalonia, the Delegation of the Government in Catalonia and the Department of the Presidency of the Generalitat has allowed the temporary suspension of the execution of the closure until the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Administration present their allegations. "We have worked with discretion, responsibility and determination to open channels of dialogue between the competent administrations," pointed out the mayor of the municipality, Javier Sandoval. "We could not stand idly by in a situation that affects an establishment so deeply rooted in our municipality," he concluded.