Do markets matter? For an answer you might look to Barcelona, where the municipal council has just spent €80m on a restoration of its Sant Antoni Market, a colossal 19th-century iron-framed hall in a working-class neighbourhood of the city.
For the residents and the council of Barcelona, markets not only matter, they are where the soul of the city resides. Just off La Rambla, the city’s renowned La Bocqueria market now has guards to exclude tourist parties at the busiest times, while graffiti on the shaded, tight medieval streets nearby reads “Tourists go home, refugees welcome”.
Residents of the Catalan capital are fearful of their prize markets being taken over by tourists, made inaccessible to those they were built for. So at Sant Antoni they have incorporated a supermarket, the rent from which will help the council cover the restoration expenses.