A bar owner is causing controversy on social media after charging people 1.50 euros who sit with people in his bar or on his terrace but don’t buy anything, claiming “you have to educate people.”
The owner of the bar in Liaño, in Cantabria, Óscar Solano, is justifying the charge due to rising costs and the need to make his business viable, saying that “in general it is being accepted.”
He said: "We have had to apply a button on the till that we never thought we would have to do but is currently a necessity, 1.5 euros for non-consumption.”
“We have to educate customers that a bar is a business. Sometimes a table of six people come in and only four of them buy drinks. You either have to tell the people who are with them that they can't sit down, or charge them a nominal amount.”
Many businesses in the hospitality sector are having to make some difficult decisions regarding opening days and hours to save money on their electricity bill or due to lack of staff in the current economic situation.
