Have a look here....

* I must admit, I live near Barcelona these days, not in it. I don't drink alcohol and these days only go to gigs my DJ husband plays at. But I do enjoy being able to eat or shop late at night. This article was taken from a friends Facebook page with his permission.

No Happy Hour, No Two for One... No Corner Shops, No late-nite Kebabs?
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This story really fills me with despair, what the hell are those imbeciles in City Hall trying to achieve? We're in the worst depression for 30 years, most bars and clubs are struggling to survive on a week to week basis, with waiting staff losing their jobs at an alarming rate. City Hall keep saying they are trying to help businesses, so what do they do?... attack, penalise or shut down any venue that is trying to host live music & Djs... and now trying to prohibit 'happy hours' and 'drinks promotions', are they insane. Contrary to what they're saying BCN's clubs & bars are not full of 'underage drinkers' & 'alcoholics'... they prefer to drink outdoors, it's a lot cheaper. So what the hell do they think they can achieve from these restrictions? More taxes? Clubs and bars should have absolute freedom, to make whatever promotions they like... it's their survival, thats on the line. At this rate what is Barcelona going to be left with? nothing but streets of boarded up bars, while we tell our visitors "Yes, that used to be great spot about 6 months ago."

Of equal concern is the closing of the 'corner shops' and 'take-away food outlets', between midnight & 7am... "magnets for crime"? I'm sure that you're going to find a lot more Gangsters hanging out in City Hall, than you are in my local Spar... (like the ones building the brand new beachfront hotel, for instance). There are thousands of people in the Ciutat Vella, working late nights... why should we not be able to purchase food, and whatever else, whenever we like? This is a wholesale attack on our rights as consumers. But there's more to it than that.... for 'corner shop', read 'Pakistani-owned Business', as the vast majority of them are, particularly within Raval, Gotic & Born (where these restrictions are proposed), This is a basically a thinly disguised assault on the Pakistani community,... If this was brought before the E.U. department of Human Rights, I'm sure Barcelona would come out looking very badly indeed.

Also I don't understand, is how the Ajuntament de Barcelona, think that they can get away with this? This doesn't happen in other cities in Spain, you'll find plenty of "Happy Hours" in Madrid, in Granada they give you a free plate of food, every time you buy a beer, and have been doing that for hundreds of years. What next? is City Hall going to ban Tapas as a "drink promotion"?