The clash between the City Council and the Restaurant Guild leaves the terraces of Enric Granados in limbo

BarcelonaA new clash has erupted between the Barcelona Restaurant Guild and the City Council over restrictions on outdoor seating hours. This morning, the Guild released a statement celebrating a new court ruling that it believes overturns the previous decision. the measure that forced the terraces of Enric Granados to close at 11 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday and at midnight on Fridays and the eves of public holidays. However, just a few hours later, the Barcelona City Council denied that the ruling issued by the administrative court in July goes so far as this.

"Indeed, [the ruling] recognizes the status of the Barcelona Restaurant Guild as an interested party in the allegations presented by the interested parties regarding the Eixample district's time restriction decree for the terraces on Enric Granados Street, but in no way invalidates this decree, which remains in effect." "The Barcelona City Council reiterates, therefore, that this ruling has no practical effect on the time restriction imposed on Enric Granados Street," the same sources insist, emphasizing that the decree is being challenged in another appeal filed by the Guild.

Now, then, the restaurant owners on this street in the Catalan capital are in limbo. On one hand, the Restaurant Guild is telling them they could have tables on the street until midnight on weekdays and until 1 a.m. on Fridays and the eve of public holidays. On the other hand, the City Council is warning them that the ruling does not modify the restrictions and that terraces will have to close at 11 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday.

The Guild maintains that they have consulted "several experts" and are certain that the ruling obliges the City Council to restart the process from the point at which it denied its direct involvement in the case. "Therefore, yes, the restriction has been lifted," they assert. Furthermore, they insist: "If the City Council has doubts, what it should do is consult the court that issued the ruling, which is the only body authorized to interpret it, that is, to clarify its scope." Finally, the restaurant owners warn that the Guild "will inform the court of any attempt by the City Council to disobey the judicial decision."

The restriction of opening hours for bars on Enric Granados was a measure taken by Ada Colau's government in response to complaints from the Neighborhood Network Against Noise, which in 2022 reported that practically every resident of the street – where some 1,600 people live – would find themselves in one of the bars.

Years of controversy

Tuesday's debacle adds to other setbacks the City Council has already experienced in recent years. In 2023, it had to backtrack and rescind the measure concerning George Orwell Square and Joaquim Costa Street due to procedural flaws, and last March it received its first adverse ruling. In that case, the city's Administrative Court No. 12 sided with the Restaurant Guild and overturned the reduction in opening hours for terraces in Plaça del Sol, in the Gràcia district. In the Plaça del Sol case, the ruling considered the acoustic impact assessment report used by the City Council to justify the measure invalid because the sound level meter was not placed close enough to the building facades. Now, the argument is different. In this case, the court determined that the city council violated the Guild's right to submit arguments on its own behalf, that is, as a business organization, regardless of whether it also did so on behalf of its member establishments. While the City Council did file an appeal in the case of Plaça del Sol, it did not in the case of Enric Granados, so the ruling is final.