The beach bar that the Supreme Court may have saved from being demolished today

SilosEverything has happened very quickly. On Tuesday, May 20, the Sitges Sea Club, a non-profit social club related to sea sports, received an email from the Ministry for Ecological Transition notifying them that their facilities would be demolished on June 2. It was a notification, not a court ruling, and they were not given the opportunity to appeal. However, today, the Supreme Court decided to open a separate suspension proceeding to analyze whether it is necessary to suspend the administration's agreement ordering the demolition of the Sea Club facilities and the Maria Teresa pool. "The email didn't mention that they're relying on a 2003 Supreme Court ruling, which told us they would demolish the Club de Mar, but that was in 2003; so many years later, the ruling has already lapsed," says Gonzalo Fuster-Fabra, former vice president and spokesperson for the Club de Mar de Sitge, regarding the legality or otherwise of the measures adopted by the ministry. In a state of law, only judges should rule on the legality of an administrative decision. Thus, the Supreme Court could suspend the demolition of the building on June 2.

Last January, when the beach bar Bar Boia in Cadaqués closed, also final, both the Club de Mar and the bars Pic Nic and Kansas explained that they were about to learn the resolution of the appeal they had filed jointly with the Supreme Court. "We received the notification on Tuesday, May 20th, only to ourselves, because the legislation they want to apply to us is different, as we are a beach club," says Fuster-Fabra, who adds that there could be up to fifteen beach clubs in Catalonia that find themselves in the same situation.

In the long race against the coastal law that the ministry wants to enforce against them, the Sitges Sea Club received another notice in 2018 accusing them of illegally occupying the Sitges Ribera promenade and ordering them to pay €60,000. "They told us it was a minor fine, but that we had to pay it," continues Fuster-Fabra, who claims they paid the amount and then walked away, without any luck.

The weakness of the Cultural Asset of Local Interest

The former vice president cites reasons why the coastal law should not apply. To begin with, they are located behind the promenade, and in 2014, the Sitges City Council classified them as Cultural Assets of Local Interest. "Until 2023, the coastal law stated that Cultural Assets of Interest in general were exempt, but last year they amended it, adding that only national ones would be exempt, not local ones," notes Fuster-Fabra, who emphasizes that it was then that they, as well as the Catalan government, became unprotected.

In other Catalan towns, there are nautical clubs that have already been demolished. This is the case in Pineda de Mar, but in Sitges, they have continued to fight through all possible legal avenues, even though they knew they were outside the scope of the coastal law, which stated they could only have 300 square meters of use for boats and another 300 square meters for facilities. They have 2,100 square meters. "We have up to ten legal proceedings open, and we want the courts themselves to let us know if we have to close, and not a notification from the ministry, which is not legal for them to let us know in that way." Thus, the demolition scheduled for June 2 has been suspended; the demolition will not be carried out because, furthermore, the ruling they are appealing, from 2003, is already past the statute of limitations.

For his part, Joan Anton Matas, director of the Mata group, which manages the Pic Nic bar-restaurant, explains that they have not received any notification. "We are still waiting for the resolution of the appeal we filed, and we have not had a response." 1933, which was then issued by the City Council." So the majority of the current population of Sitges "has always seen these facilities on the Paseo de la Ribera;

If the ministry had come forward on June 2 to overthrow the Club de Mar, "it would be a very complicated day," says Matas, because "we're in the middle of the tourist season, there's the International LGBT+ Pride Day parade, and all the spotlights would be on this."

The Boya Bar in Cadaqués, inside the La Sal restaurant

The Bar Boia in Cadaqués disappeared forever last January, and since this week, bartender Manel Vehí, with his cocktails, has moved into the La Sal restaurant in Cadaqués (pl. des Portitxó, s/n). of cold water that meant for the Vehí family, and for the population, the notification that the Generalitat of Catalonia made to them at the end of December, Manel Vehí faces the summer season with optimism. His creative cocktails, for which he uses special tableware, have been a draw for the people of Alt Empordà for years. And this summer they can continue to be tried, now in a new location.