terraces

Bar terraces have been colonizing the squares of Spain for years. Logroño is proving how difficult it is to change it

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The terraces of the hoteliers have become a huge hot potato for town councils. It’s nothing new. Their coexistence with the neighbors, especially in the most touristic neighborhoods and with the greatest concentration of homes (as happens in many historic centers) led years ago to not a few town halls to take action and declare acoustically saturated areas. However cases like the one from Logroño They remember that the terraces continue to be a focus of debate. And above all, it is not always easy to balance the interests of bars and neighbors. There, in fact, they have generated a thorny controversy. Why Logroño? Because your City Council has proposed updating the terrace ordinance. In fact the document will pass today by the local plenary sessionheaded by Mayor Conrado Escobar and where the PP has a majority. The new standard will bring important changes for the sector and comes preceded by an intense debate. However, if there is something that stands out (or not) it is for having managed to be the target of criticism from both the neighbors of the historic center as well as the hoteliers. Both are suspicious of the rule, although for different reasons. What does the ordinance say? The Town Hall defend that “rearranges” the public space and “reduces” the hours and surface of the terraces. To be more precise, the municipal government highlights three points. The first, a significant cut in the hours of these facilities: from Sunday to Thursday their maximum time will be 00:00 and on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of holidays, 1:30 a.m. “One daily opening hour is reduced from Sunday to Wednesday, two on Thursdays and a half on weekends with respect to the current norm,” clarify from the Consistory. And the other two objectives? They go through the “reorganization of public space”, restricting the surface that the terraces can ‘colonize’ to give “priority” to pedestrians and increasing the occupancy rate. Another of the guidelines that will appear in the ordinance has to do with the number of tables and chairs that each premises can install to seek “proportionality between the space occupied and the square meters that businesses have granted in their licenses.” The maximum allowable surface area will also suffer a snip: from 120 to 100 m2. What do hoteliers say? Which is a bad idea. And that will have consequences that go beyond the sector. In statements collected by Europa Press, Hostelería Riojana warns that the ordinance “destroys an essential part of the activity of bars, cafes and restaurants in the city” and warns that the terraces are “a hallmark” of Logroño, one that from now on “will be disproportionately limited and restricted.” “It puts Logroño’s tourism at risk and therefore the viability of the hospitality sector in the city, since part of its income comes from these spaces,” they insist. The hoteliers go further and point out that with the new ordinance the City Council “does not ensure the proper balance” in the coexistence between neighbors and businesses and leaves local hoteliers in a delicate position, “increasing legal uncertainty and encouraging arbitrary decisions.” In summary, the sector considers that the rule represents “a real setback” for tourism and demands that the City Council review it. In fact, in June he submitted more than twenty pages of allegations to the draft, although most of them did not materialize. And the neighbors? They’re not much happier. At least those in the historic center. The association Old Town Lawsuit already has shown his discomfort and they accuse the mayor of showing “feeling” toward “the lobby hotelier”, wasting in the process the opportunity to improve the current rule. “It is a cowardly ordinance, which has nothing to do with the one proposed by the municipal technicians a few months ago and which, in practice, means removing four tables and half an hour less than the one that is especially generous with the hospitality industry and anachronistic regulations of 2012, which had turned Logroño into the paradise of drinking and drunk tourism.” Is there any more lake? Yes. One of the keys to their anger is the differences between the draft standard and the final project. As you remember, the first document advanced the closing on weekends at 1:00 a.m., when the tables should have been cleared. The Government ended up incorporating an amendment that raised the limit at 1:30 a.m. the days of greatest demand, such as Fridays, Saturdays and holidays. Another of the most sensitive changes is related to the authorized size for terraces based on the surface area of ​​the premises. If the useful area was taken as a reference, it would have been transferred to the real area, which includes bathrooms, kitchen or warehouse. The Town Hall itself remember that the preliminary project was approved in February and later went through a phase of allegations before receiving a first approval in May. Does it only happen in Logroño? No. A year ago we told you how Seville wanted to review its ordinance to facilitate coexistence between the terraces of candlelights and the neighbors, which also sparked considerable debate there. Other locations, such as Madrid, Vigo, Barcelona either Malagato name just a handful of examples, have seen firsthand how complicated it is to regulate terraces. In the background is the enormous weight they have in the Spanish sector: a 2021 report published by the Madrid City Council estimated that terraces, “a substantial source of income”, provide between 20 and 25% of business billing. The calculation was made in the middle of a pandemic, but it is still revealing. Images | Logroño City Council and Chris Arnold In Xataka | The hoteliers promised themselves happy with the enormous business of the terraces. Until the new anti-smoking law arrived

After renting swimming pools during the summer, a new business is on the rise in Madrid: private terraces in winter

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In a chalet in Boadilla del Monte, a group of friends drinks their wine as the afternoon falls. In the center of Madrid, a couple celebrates a birthday on a stranger’s terrace. In Lavapiés, a group of twenty-somethings toast in a room. In all cases, there is something in common: none of them are owners, but for a few hours they can pretend that they are. Madrid is rented in fragments: swimming pools in summer, terraces in autumn and lounges in winter. The everyday turned into a stage, intimacy turned into a product. Renting all year round. What started as a summer curiosity —renting private pools by the hour— has become a new form of urban leisure. Platforms like Cocopool, Born as the “Airbnb of water”now they also rent interiors for the rest of the year. However, behind this fashion there is something deeper than a simple leisure trend: an attempt to buy a life. aestheticthat ideal of calm, natural light and well-being that we see every day on social networks. From the dip to the shelter. Renting pools by the hour is still very popular and there are more and more platforms where you can choose where to take your next dip. What seemed like a seasonal business has become deseasonalized. In 2022 Cocopool launched as the “Airbnb of swimming pools”. Now, as explained by its CEO Gerard Xalabardéthe company has come up with “new verticals that cover the same needs the rest of the year.” In autumn and spring, users can rent terraces and gardens; in winter, private lounges with fireplace, sofas and equipped kitchen. In Madrid, the company has 15 interior spaces and 62 terraces or gardens, with prices ranging from 15 to 300 euros, depending on size and luxury. The average cost is around 32 euros for interiors and 34 for terraces, according to company data. The wish of a life aesthetic. This boom not only responds to a practical demand, but also to an aesthetic desire. Renting a well-kept terrace or a designer living room is not just about seeking comfort, but —as Xataka Home explains— “engage in an aspirational lifestyle, even if just for a few hours.” What used to materialize in Pinterest photos or TikTok videos is now experienced in the flesh: a garden with garlands, a light wooden table, a blue pool without background noise. According to Trendsthe phenomenon aesthetic It combines nostalgia for bygone eras with an obsession with the visually perfect: a life that seems orderly, beautiful and under control. In parallel, one could speak of “silent luxury” as the new form of exclusivity: minimalism, noble materials, neutral colors and absence of ostentation. In other words, renting a beige living room is not just leisure: it is a little aesthetic therapy to escape, for a few hours, from everyday clutter. “All for hours.” Pool rentals were just the beginning. The logic of sharing has been extended to almost any experience: terraces, gardens, living rooms, naps and even weddings. But beyond business ingenuity, there is a clear drift: the capitalization of any redoubt of private life. The intimate becomes the stage, the everyday becomes the product. Fewer and fewer things escape the logic of express rental. What was once shared among friends is now reserved with a card. What was rest is now sold as an experience. However, there are also those who find in these platforms a practical solution, not a fantasy. aesthetic. In a city where the flats they shrink and houses rarely allow more than six people to gather, renting a terrace or living room for a few hours can be a reasonable—and affordable—way to celebrate a birthday, a family reunion, or a meal with friends. Not everything is posturing: sometimes there is simply a lack of space. Although, in the words of geographer Vicent Molins, “Madrid has become a product.” And economist Juan Torres López warns that this trend “erodes urban ties and deepens inequality,” because it turns coexistence into business. In other words: if everything can be rented, everything can no longer belong to us. A copy of a copy. In just five years, Spain has gone from renting other people’s beds with Airbnb to renting moments of life: a pool, a terrace, a nap or, soon, a wedding. Everything is offered by the hour, everything is measured in experiences. Platforms like Cocopool, HolaPlace or Nap & Go They capitalize on a shared desire: to experience what we see on networks, even if it is for a while. A more orderly, beautiful, more aesthetic. Maybe, as El País warned“the brand grows, but the city gets worse for those who live in it.” Or maybe we’re just learning to put a price—literally—on what used to be free: the feeling of belonging, of having something of your own. Because, in the end, that life that we so long for on screens is nothing more than a copy of another copy. And we, paying to imitate her, are also a little bit. Image | FreePik Xataka | Neither air conditioning nor fan: the best thing to cool off in summer is a swimming pool. On these platforms they are rented by the hour

The hoteliers promised them happy with the huge business of the terraces. Until the new antitabaco law arrived

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Spain is a country of Terraceum. It was before and it is much more (if possible) now, with the memory of the COVID-19 still present and while the country gradually becomes a huge tourist power that is on its way to the 100 million visitors foreigners The hoteliers have not been oblivious to that pull and have turned the terraces into a fundamental part of their turnover, especially in summer. Now they fear that THE NEW ANTITABACE LAW put it in danger. Goodbye, terraces (with smoke). The government wants the roads of the tobacco industry and the hospitality industry to pass separately. Completely. In 2006 there was a first step in that direction with the Law 28/200515 years ago progress was made with a Legislative reform And now the Executive wants to make another movement that would completely banish the smoke from the bars terraces. This is expected by the legislative draft that He has just received the approval of the Council of Ministers, a document that still has a parliamentary route ahead (in fact it does not even guarantee its approval in the lower house), but that has already done Jump alarms Among the hoteliers of the country. Of bars, cigarettes and vapers. Although it does not collect All changes to those who aspired by the Ministry of Health, The new regulations It is clear in two key aspects. First, in equating electronic cigarettes to conventional tobacco. Second, at the time of veto That people smoke (or vapee) on the terraces. Moreover, the department of Mónica García has not stayed there and advocates a sharp prohibition of tobacco in “closed public spaces and an expanded list of exterior environments”, among which includes all those enclosures in which shows, sports facilities, parks, transport stations, educational centers and (of course) are the tables that the bars take out abroad. Pending jobenes. It is not the only thing that the government has in mind, which aspires that adolescents find it even more difficult to hook themselves. The new standard not only restricts the sale of tobacco (and the rest of the products that the law quotes, such as electronic cigarettes) to minors, but directly forbids smoking. It also veto any advertising and demands a more precise labeling, although it leaves out the generic packaging that doctors ask. “A severe threat”. The proposal has not liked the hoteliers, who have not taken long to warn of the coup that will be advised by the ban. The collective He raised his voice Already on the same Monday (after the Council of Ministers gave its placet to the draft law) to question the effectiveness of the norm and remember that today smokers and non -smokers live in the terraces without problem. “It goes against the hoteliers, not against tobacco. On our terraces there has always been a peaceful coexistence and with respect to people who do not want to smoke,” claims José Luis Álvarez, president of the hospitality of Spain, on the bill. It is not the only voice in the sector that points in that direction. The employer Otea, hospitality and tourism in Asturias, insists In his “resounding rejection” to the veto and warns that the new restriction represents “a severe threat” for business. What do they argue? The hoteliers wield several arguments. The main one is that they believe that the law will condemn smokers to closed private spaces, such as houses, and stir a problem (in their opinion) non -existent. “There is currently a good coexistence between smokers and non -smokers on the terraces,” claims The employer, who claims to have a 40DB study that shows that 56% of Spaniards do not believe urgent to prohibit tobacco on the terraces. Moreover, a large majority (82.5%) He is convinced that customers will continue to smoke in the immediate vicinity, “hindering the work” of those who work in the bars. Camareros … and police. Another of their fears is how tourists will fit the veto, customers who may not know the ban when they feel on a terrace and take a cigarette. “It will generate special confusion among the millions of tourists visiting Spain every year, a country where the tourism sector represents one of the main economic motors,” They censor. The president of the hospitality of Spain, José Luis Álvarez, is even more graphic and warns that the waiters will have to “make police”, warning the clients of the ban. Looking at Europe.. “There is only one country throughout Europe where smoking is not allowed, Sweden. And we are going to be Spain, that we have more tables and more chairs than all Europe, which prohibit smoking from tourists on our terraces,” regretted Yesterday the sector leader in an interview with four. The association recalls that when France decided Give yourself with standards To restrict tobacco he opted for “Exclude expressly“The terraces not to damage their economy. The norm French aspires to get “the first generation without tobacco”, so the smoke will veto in outdoor spaces, such as beaches, gardens, marques and playgrounds, but leaves out the electronic cigarettes and does not play the chairs and tables that their hoteliers place outside their establishments. The value of a terrace. The speed and forcefulness with which the hoteliers have come out to show their discomfort is not surprising. On the contrary, it confirms a reality: the enormous weight that the terraces have been acquired in the accounts of the bars and restaurants. There are several factors that explain it. One, key, is the antitabaco standard that has been applied so far and its interior restrictions, but others are added, such as the effect of the pandemic or the policies adopted by Some municipalities What have reduced tax burden of the terraces. The result is that the terraces have been expanding through the squares, streets and sidewalks of the cities, a growth that has sometimes generated friction with the neighbors. In Sevillewhere at least in 2023 there were around 1,300 businesses With evenings, the … Read more

Terraces that absorb the noise and let you know if you pass volume

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One of the favorite neighborhoods to leave in Valencia is Ruzafa. It concentrates a lot of gastronomic and leisure offer, which for visitors is wonderful and for neighbors not so much, than They have been complaining years of noise on weekends. The City Council has had an idea to minimize noise: terraces that absorb sound and warn when certain decibels are passed. The project. It is being carried out within the framework of Valencia Innovation Capitalan initiative of the Department of Innovation. The objective is to create an official model that can be taken to other parts of the city and that “responds to criteria of sustainability and resilience to climatic conditions, with the aim of facilitating the right to rest of the neighborhood”, as reported in Europa Press. At the moment the project is in a pilot phase and the Ruzafa neighborhood has been chosen to carry out the first test, which will end in November. Ecoterrazas. Thus they have called the new anti -Red terraces that have already been installed in nine stores on Cura Female Street, one of the busiest in the neighborhood since it is pedestrian and is full of premises. The terraces have several elements focused on reducing both noise and heat. Are the following: Umbrellas: They have several layers and a special fabric that can reduce the temperature. Phonoabsorbent discs: made with a material that absorbs sound waves. At the same time they act as parasol. Lamps with intelligent notice: They are small connected table lamps that, if the allowed decibels are exceeded, change red. Click on the image to access the publication in X. Fed up neighbors. The reaction of the neighbors has not been waiting. The Russafa Association rests described the “posture” measure and denounced that just three days after the installation several panels had already been collected. In addition, the project is concentrated in one of the busiest streets, but the problem It affects more than twenty streets in which there are almost 300 leisure and restoration stores. Zas. Are the acronym for Acoustically saturated zone. The Ruzafa neighborhood It has been declared declared Zas Zone. This measure cuts the opening schedules and limits the new terraces licenses. However, it does not collect anything about other types of establishments. The neighbors already They have denounced that it does not include any measure to limit the schedules of discos and pubs. Many of these stores are soundproofed, the problem is that people spend a lot of time in the adjacent streets, generating noise high at night. Insufficient. The truth is that the initiative of the anti -Red terraces is interesting as a starting point to minimize noise, but in gentrificed neighborhoods such as Ruzafa, full of premises and also tourist apartments, the problem of noise goes beyond the terraces of the bars. Neither is its effectiveness: the same day of its installation Noise levels that reached 67 decibels were recorded In the two areometers that the City Council has installed on that street. The maximum registered in this location has reached 74 decibels, according to the City Council in its Sonometric study. Images | Valencia Innovation Capital and Wikipedia In Xataka | The other silent pest of European cities: noise

Health has just confirmed that the new tobacco law goes after the terraces. And it is not the only environment that wants smokeless

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Terrazas, Marquesinas, University Campus, Teaching Centers, Sports Facilities and Labor Vehicles will be some of the new environments where smoking will be prohibited. At least that’s what the Ministry of Health seeks, that is working to reform the current anti -tabaco legislation, with the objective of “protecting public health and” denormalizing tobacco consumption in shared spaces. ”The plan is part of a broader strategy that seeks to reduce the impact of smoking, a threat that, according to Minister Mónica García, causes 30 % of cancers. A commitment that had been paused for years. The measure is not new, but so far it had not left the drawer. In 2021 a draft had already been written With proposals in this line, also including an increase in tobacco taxes and a stricter regulation of vapeo. That plan, prepared with the recommendations of scientific and medical societies, was two years paralyzed until Minister Mónica García, who took possession in November 2023he boost him again. Click to see the message of the Minister of Health in X Social consensus has changed. The idea of ​​prohibiting smoking on terraces was one of the most controversial when it began to consider, but public acceptance data has evolved over time. A survey of The Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFYC) pointed out in 2022 that 72 % of the population would agree to expand these smokeless spaces, including part of the smoking citizenship. Although without mentioning a specific survey, Health has pointed out that the measures raised “are backed by a majority of citizens.” New devices, same regulation. One of the most relevant changes posed by the reform is Normative comparison of electronic cigarettes and tobacco devices heated with conventional tobacco. In practice, that implies that these products will have the same restrictions of use in public spaces, without exceptions. The text that develops this aspect already It has been sent To the European Union for its evaluation, within the usual procedure. The challenge: convert the draft into law. For now, the reform is in the elaboration phase and must overcome several filters. First, the approval in the Council of Ministers, and then a parliamentary process where the support of other political forces will be needed. Everything can change in that process. Even so, the ministry insists on the importance of progressing quickly. A national strategy for 2030. The fight against smoking is part of a more ambitious national strategy. The objective shared with the Spanish Association against Cancer is clear: achieve the first generation of young Spaniards free of tobacco by the year 2030. For this, in addition to expanding smokeless spaces, Health plans to promote the unique packaging, finance treatments to quit smoking from the National Health System and advance measures that hinder the access of young people to tobacco. Not only physical health: also mental health and equity. Exposure to tobacco smoke does not affect all people equally. The Ministry puts the Focus on vulnerable groupsas minors or pregnant people, and raises this reform from an equity approach. Every person, argues healing, has the right to safe environments no longer to be involuntarily exposed to smoke. Images | Sara Kurfeß | Obaid Awan In Xataka | We have discovered something as bad for your health as smoking or drinking a lot of alcohol: not exercise

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