LAST MONTH, as Spain loosened its tight lockdown, Carmen Olmos opened up her smart tapas bar in the Salamanca district of Madrid for the first time since early March. Little by little she brought all nine of her staff out of the government's furlough scheme. She is allowed to use only 60% of her tables, the office workers who used to drop by for breakfast or lunch are still teleworking and trade is a third below its pre-pandemic level. She had to close two other bars in the previous slump, in 2009-12. This time she is optimistic. "I own the property, it's an area with a lot of purchasing power so it's viable even in these conditions," she says. She is less sanguine about the Spanish economy as a whole. Many other bars are opening with fewer workers and for shorter hours, she adds. Many small shops in her neighbourhood are yet to come back at all.
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