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The defunct Cervecería Baviera, located at the old number 7 of the Rambla de Canaletes, succeeded the defunct Café Petit Pelayo, opened in 1893.
The Baviera was owned by the prolific restaurant businessman Esteve Sala Canadell, converting the former café into a modern brewery that quickly conquered the stomachs of its customers.
It was distributed on the ground floor and an attic with a window that overlooked the Rambla de Canaletes which, at that time, was a discreet vantage point to observe the characters who spent their afternoons showing off their outfits walking up and down this Barcelona promenade. The newspapers of the time were also commented on here. Even the window tables were already arranged as an observation tower.
The Baviera Brewery opened its doors after a renovation that brought it closer to the existing premises in the German region (one of the 16 federated states of Germany). It was inaugurated on October 12, 1929.
Canadell’s intention was for the store to be inaugurated at the beginning of summer. The International Exhibition opened its doors on May 19, 1929 and he thought that the city would be visited by many German citizens who would come to his brewery.
With the beginning of the football league, Canaletes was a meeting place for Barça fans, but the upper class did not feel like participating in the street gatherings once the games were over.
Then, the Baviera loft became the favorite place for fans who, sitting at a table with a good German beer, commented on the plays of Pep Samitier or Emili Sagi-Barba and, later, of the Segarra and Kubala, among others. .
The chroniclers of the time commented in their respective newspapers on the hot gatherings that were held on Sunday afternoons in the Baviera attic.
At that time, the legendary player Samitier was linked as public relations for the Baviera Brewery and Restaurant, because he spent hours after training had finished at the premises. It was said that Samitier had an open bar in the establishment.
Like any business of this type, over the years it lost its clientele that could be said to be fixed, as new stores appeared on the city’s panorama, which caused it to suffer a decrease in customers. Tastes had changed and only in the summertime was its terrace crowded with tourists.
An attempt was made by the property to revitalize it in May 2017, with a comprehensive renovation, but neither the people nor the tastes were the same, neither on the part of the natives nor of the tourists.
Despite retaining the name, it definitively became a simple tapas establishment focused on tourism, losing the aesthetic references that had characterized it.
La Baviera closed its doors in May 2017. Much has been written about the brewery and the characters of the premises and the neighboring Musical Emporium store, also defunct.
Stories that have survived to this day have also been written about its owner, Sala Canadell, and Pepe Samitier, former FC Barcelona player.
At that time there were a series of comments in which the relationship between Sala Canadell and Pepe Samitier was related. There were comments that they were both father and son.
La Vanguardia itself, in an extensive article published on August 16, 2020, tried to shed light on the story by clarifying the issue a little.
I commented in part of the article that when the will was read after the death of Sala Canadell, one of the clauses appeared: “That the Barça player could go to eat and sleep in his hotels for free.” Something that would not have happened if Canadell had not written it in his will.
The brewery has always had a reputation for having exquisite service. On one occasion, an Italian citizen made a favorable comment about the establishment and commented:
It is very close to La Fontana de Canaletes. The menu of this bar includes dishes from Spanish cuisine. You can have perfectly cooked oysters, bacon and sausages at Cervecería Baviera. There is no doubt that you will love tasty croissants. This place has among its drinks a recommendable beer.
Another of the anecdotes that the defunct brewery had, was starred in the year 2000 by the journalist Xavier Bosch, when he started a night program on RAC1 titled Café Baviera, in memory of the gatherings that took place at that location.
