Barcelona’s historic El Indio shop in the Raval district is still facing major hurdles to reopen after 12 years shut. The former fabric merchant on Carrer del Carme is one of the city’s emblematic establishments, but any new use still has to make commercial sense.
Ivan Pera, commissioner for the Ciutat Vella Pact, told TOT Barcelona that several proposals have not stacked up financially. The property, at Carrer del Carme, 24, is owned by a Barceloneta restaurateur who bought it but later found he could not use it as planned.
The Ajuntament wants El Indio to reopen soon, ideally with a cultural project. But Pera said that, in practice, the building’s limits make it hard to combine culture with a restaurant or bar, which would normally be needed to keep the business viable. Cooking is not possible there, and late opening hours are also restricted.
The city is now working within a new Ciutat Vella urban plan, which has started its final approval process after an agreement between the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni and Junts per Barcelona. The Ecology and Urban Planning Commission backed the plan this week. It expands the number of permitted activities in the district from 55 to 180, while tightening rules on non-daily, non-food businesses.
The plan also creates more room for cultural uses, including art galleries, museums, libraries, archives, cinemas, bookshops, conference rooms and performing arts activities. The socialist executive wants to turn La Rambla into a cultural hub, and that policy also affects nearby Raval and Gòtic. If El Indio can be fitted to a cultural model, it may now have a better chance of meeting the rules.
El Indio has been part of Barcelona’s catalogue of emblematic establishments since it opened in 1870 as a fabric shop. Its façade is protected, but the building has been neglected for years, with graffiti and dirt still visible. The city said a year ago that it would clean the façade, but its condition has not changed.
For more on the district’s wider changes, see our coverage of community and sport in Barcelona. Another historic site, El Ingenio in the Gòtic, is also being repurposed, and will become the headquarters for Barcelona’s Nativity scene makers.
