About twenty residents of the Barri Gòtic gathered this Thursday in front of the bakery at 33 Ample Street in order to stop the municipal seal of the business. “On this street we have a lot of places to buy tacos, burritos and slices of pizza, but only here we can buy a loaf of bread and have a coffee with milk in peace,” they said indignantly. “The City Council spends its life saying that it encourages local commerce, but when it comes down to it it does nothing to support it. Are they really going to leave us without our bakery?”
University students, civil registry officials, and merchants from the surrounding area also come to Forn de la Vila in search of a quick snack. “And what do you think will open next? Well, another store selling cannabis trinkets or t-shirts for tourists. “They are the only stores that open in the neighborhood.” Yes, the supply of psychoactive gummies in the area is very rich. Some children, on the street, chant cannabis club, hash, marijuana… “And if they are so interested in enforcing the rules, let them take care of the recruiters of the illegal cannabis clubs, who do not stop offering drugs to our children when they come back from school.”
Even the councilor responsible for the Ciutat Vella district, the deputy mayor for Security, Albert Batlle, would prefer that the Forn de la Vila not close its doors. “It is a business that we would not want to seal, because it is a neighborhood and it is a local business, but above all there is strict compliance with the law. It cannot be any other way from the City Council. “We will continue talking and studying all legal possibilities to find a solution to this issue, but in no way can we break the rule.”
The problem is that El Forn de la Vila’s license does not allow it to offer this small tasting space. In the end, a judge accepted this Thursday in extremis the extremely precautionary measures requested by the person in charge of the establishment. Domènec Lacostera says that he took over this business in 2012, that people here had already been served coffee, croissants and sandwiches in the back for at least 20 years, that he never had any problems about it until someone reported him in 2020. … Until then the municipal inspectors who passed by from time to time never raised any objections.
“No, we still don’t know the new date, when the City Council will come to seal us. But the truth is that, with a rent of 1,300 euros, selling only loaves of bread, we will barely be able to survive a couple of months. Recently, the Barcelona Restaurant Association denounced that many bakeries in the city are giving them unfair competition by actually operating as bars and restaurants. But those establishments even serve menus. It is not our case, no… We already have more than 300 signatures of support from neighbors. And we talk to politicians from a lot of parties, and they all tell us that we are a necessary business for the neighborhood, that we cannot disappear… The problem is that to become legal we need a modification of the district’s use plan, and that is where The parties do not agree.”
