Hi everyone,
Welcome Decembers Barcelona English Speakers update (being written from the back of a taxi in Malaysia).
December is a strange time in Barcelona, for me it does not feel like Christmas without the cold and grey of Northern Europe, but Barcelona has really upped its game when it comes to Christmas activities and illuminations at this time of year. It has been named “European Capital of Christmas 2026” so expect this to ramp up further next year.
The community is doing great, activity is up with a steady stream of new members – we are sat at well over 1800 members now, so we will have to consider what we will this time as we move to the WhatsApp community limit again. I do hope they increase the size, managing a WhatsApp group is tricky, especially when you consider the functionality of other platforms like Telegram and Discord – but it is ubiquitous (less so stateside). We want to be able accommodate as many members as possible, but presently it’s not possible due to this, so we have to find ways to clear space as and when we need to.
We do not have a December meet-up, as the festive period is a time when a lot of people travel back to their countries, so we will aim for the next one in the new year. The November meetup was great and thanks to everyone that attended. We are always on the lookout for new members that can accommodate us (usually from 50-150 people on a Friday night) so if anyone has, or knows of a space that might be interesting – please let the admins know in the groups, or message me here.
We are always looking for ways to make the community better, so if you have any ideas you can let the admins know, or contact me here (or WhatsApp me through the groups).
We did a soft launch for Bizcelona in December and we are now accepting new members so if you are an entrepreneur, founder or a senior leader then we would love to welcome you. We aim to make it the best community of its type in Barcelona by adding value and shaping it based on user feedback – so please feel free to apply if you would like to join.
One of the things we get asked a lot in the groups is tradespeople recommendations, so a quick reminder that Locallista.es has now launched in Barcelona, I am sharing this as I think its a great service and addresses an unmet need in the city.
For those of you that are not already aware, I have been working on the Barna.News project to bring more English news to the community – its been a fun journey so far and I feel a lot more connected to the city since starting it. You can get the news via our News Flash group, or the WhatsApp broadcast channel. I also publish all of the best deals on Amazon each day and you can find that broadcast channel here.
All thats left for me to say is thank you all for being part of the community, it really does give me joy to see the connections that the group has enabled, and I look forward to what 2026 brings. A big thank you to all of the community organisers who put on fun events each week, and also to Brata and Dan for being a great team to work with keeping the community on point and spam free despite the awful pay and working conditions.
Happy Christmas to you all, wherever in the world you will be spending it.
Owen
If you made it this far then you might want to consider following our socials – we have Instagram, X, YouTube and even TikTok, plus we have a subReddit r/BCNEnglishSpeakers where we share news and have a less hard line approach to moderation than the other Barcelona groups (and I can’t get banned from sharing free events there – not that I am bitter…)
