Something is shifting in the world of beer and tapas, progressing with a stubborn momentum. A deep, lasting change is taking root in the core of Spain’s hospitality sector, covering hotels, bars, and snack venues. Fewer hotel businesses are surviving, yet the impact is not equal. Some types of establishments bear the brunt more than others.
Over the past decade, Spain has seen the steady disappearance of about two thousand bars each year, totaling roughly 10,000 closures in ten years. This trend has eroded taverns and neighborhood bars, especially small-town spots and those tucked into local districts, along with smaller disco venues. From 2010 to last year, around 26,830 liquor operations with bar licenses failed to pivot into restaurants.
More than 13% of all bars had already disappeared as the new decade began, according to official data from the National Institute of Statistics. Yet Spain’s beverage sector remains robust: at the end of last year there were 175,890 outlets serving beer, roughly one bar for every 270 people. Spain stands as a notable anomaly in this field within the broader European context.
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Industry restructuring
The decline is not simply a cyclical downturn. Spain continues to lose a little over 2,000 bars per year. The pandemic and the ensuing price rises did introduce volatility, but the drop predates and outlasts those events. In the wake of a long period of near-stable closings, the industry saw a few notable shifts, with some years showing more pronounced gains or losses in active venues. Over the last three years those fluctuations have persisted.
The downturn is best understood as gradual restructuring. Some stores close while others open, a pattern that marks rural and neighborhood small businesses as the most vulnerable, while larger, mid-size venues persist or expand, according to Emilio Gallego, Secretary General of Hospitality for Employers of Spain.
And as about 2,000 bars close annually, around 1,000 restaurants also open. With professionalization rising, many venues pivot to restaurant formats offering broader commercial options. Since 2010, 12,061 establishments with restaurant or counter licenses have begun operating in Spain, accompanied by a total of 83,879 hospitality entities—up 16.8%—though still far less than the vast bar and tavern sector. Overall, Spain’s hospitality landscape comprised 259,769 businesses last year, down 14,769 from thirteen years earlier, yet still equating to roughly one business for every 170 people.
Greater floor space and more employment
Measured by retail floor space, the accommodation sector continues to expand, offering larger, more professional venues with broader services and a growing workforce. The industry association notes ongoing growth in hiring and facility size as part of a broader shift toward more comprehensive hospitality experiences.
According to the trade body, the hotel sector currently sustains an average of 1.75 million jobs per year, with peaks around 1.8 million during July and August. That is roughly 100,000 more employees than in 2010, despite about 14,800 fewer bars and restaurants overall.
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The industry’s evolution mirrors consumer behavioral changes, says Gallego. “Many venues disappear as customers shrink,” he notes, pointing to rural depopulation and urban neighborhoods where enthusiasm wanes and games and social life shift elsewhere.
Bars sit empty in Spain
Depopulation and aging populations drive closures, with rural Spain showing the highest drop rates. Castilla y León has lost about 20.9% of its bars since 2010, Galicia 20.6%, and Asturias 20%. This trend is tied to shrinking populations and the changing local economy.
In some depopulated towns, the bar is a last fortress of local commerce against decline. Today, there are municipalities in which no hotels operate, representing about 17.7% of Spain’s towns and cities. Many of these places host fewer than 100 residents, and only a handful have populations over 400. In total, around 142,781 people live in municipalities without a bar or hotel, or about 0.3% of Spain’s population. The regional concentration of these gaps is notable, with Castilla y León bearing a large share of the affected residents.
Yet not all of Spain is empty of bars. The Community of Madrid has still seen significant closures since the start of the decade, though population distribution and new neighborhood development influence where openings occur. Madrid’s figure reflects both population dynamics and the emergence of new districts, while Galicia and Castilla y León report high absolute numbers of closures.