November 2012 - Barcelona

Nightlife
Edited by Ricard Martín
rmartin@timeout.cat
Gigs beside the tracks
The spacious café at the Estació de França
re-opens as The Station, a late-night bar with live
music. By Ricard Martín
CARLA TRAMULLAS
Without falling into the hoary clichés
of cinema – brief encounters, missed
connections, last goodbyes – railway
stations are sad places. Genuinely sad,
sordid and grimy, with none of the
romance of the silver screen: it’s all
lukewarm coffee, plastic-wrapped
pastries and blocked drains. By
evening the despair among the last
travellers is palpable, leaden eyes
glued to the departures board.
So we should all be grateful that the
only station café in Catalonia with a
glimmer of personality, at Barcelona’s
grand but underused Estació de
França, is opening its doors again.
With the self-explanatory moniker
The Station, it will warm the hearts of
locals who remember it as the place
where workers on the early shift
downed breakfast sandwiches and
coffees laced with brandy, shoulder to
shoulder with clubbers emerging from
Magic and the late-lamented Woman
Caballero – two crowds whose only
common denominator was the need
for company and one more drink.
The Station is still the place for
early-risers and nighthawks: it opens
at half past six in the morning and
closes at 3am. What was once an
echoing, utilitarian hall with Formica
tables dispersed among marble
columns has been converted into a jazz
greenhouse, where 12-foot plants
disappear up towards the ceiling.
During the day snacks and lunches are
served: early evening is the time to
appreciate its charm, as the only bar in
Barcelona promoting late-night
clubbing with live bands.
THE STATION
Marquès de l’Argentera, 6
(Estació de França). T. 93 295
63 62. Mon-Fri, 6.30am-2am;
Fri & Sat, until 3am.
www.stationbarcelona.com
26 Time Out BCN Guide November 2012