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The oldest café in El Eixample, represented for the occasion by Quim Mora, received this award from government president Pere Aragonés for its great legacy on the Barcelona scene.
The open-plan atmosphere of the Café del Centro is welcoming and calm, different from the bustling times of yesteryear. The large space has marble tables with iron feet, wooden ashlars, mirrors, oils and an old bar illuminated by ball lights hanging from the ceiling. All this has been valued by the Barcelona City Council, which has awarded the establishment the title of Emblematic,’ read the notes on this iconic bar celebrating 150 years of history in Barcelona.
The history behind the institution
It all began as a leisure destination; as a casino that Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship would convert -with its ban on gambling- into a neighbourhood bar that from the 1960s onwards became one of the great fashionable venues frequented by the political and cultural elite.
In 2021, the Bel family transferred the family business to the Confectionery Group, which has maintained its original aesthetics and has reinterpreted its menu, redesigned since 2022 by chef Víctor Ferrer. He is in charge of orchestrating its gastronomic proposal, which praises Catalan cuisine through elaborations such as traditional tapas or classic flavours fused with the modernist decoration of the premises.
