Glorieta de Bilbao Cafe Comercial DSC00185

The Café Comercial is a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

located at the Glorieta de Bilbao in central

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is one of the city's oldest cafés, founded 21 March 1887 in the era of the

Bourbon Restoration in Spain The Restoration () or Bourbon Restoration () was the period in Spanish history between the First Spanish Republic and the Second Spanish Republic from 1874 to 1931. It began on 29 December 1874, after a coup d'état by General Arsenio Martí ...

.Peter Besas, (2009),''«Historia y anécdotas de las fondas madrileñas»'', 1ª Ed. La Librería, It was a center for literary

tertulia A ''tertulia'' (, ; ; ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affairs, arts, etc. The word ...

s in the period following the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. A remnant of Madrid's golden age, it was also one of the first Madrid cafés to employ women among those serving tables.Angel del Río López, (2003), «''Los viejos cafés de Madrid''», Ed. Madrid, , p. 207-209

Characteristics

The café has two entrances, one of them a

revolving door A revolving door typically consists of three or four doors that hang on a central shaft and rotate around a vertical axis within a cylindrical enclosure. To use a revolving door, a person enters the enclosure between two of the doors and then m ...

facing onto the Glorieta de Bilbao. Large windows provide a view of the café from the street and vice versa. There are two floors; the upper floor is home to a

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

, the ''Club de Ajedrez Café Comercial'', and chess boards are always available there. The café also has a full bar on each floor. The present configuration reflects a major remodel in 1953. The café is famous for its

hot chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

with

churro A churro (, ) is a type of fried dough from Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, made with choux pastry dough piped into hot oil with a piping bag and large closed star tip or similar shape. They are also found in Latin American cuisine, Philipp ...

s and its '' picatostes'' (a type of fried bread).

History

The Café Comercial first opened 21 March 1887, according to the license granted to Don Antonio Gómez Fernández.Rafael Montal Montesa, (2001), ''«El chocolate "Semillas de Oro"»'', Zaragoza; chapter: "los Cafés" The Glorieta de Bilbao then had the famous ''Pozos de la Nieve'' which stored snow from the

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...

on the property of Paulo Chaquías. The coffee served there was much praised at the time. Marcial Guareño composed a

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...

whose lyrics ran, in part: Business meetings in that era gave the café its name. The café is strongly associated with the intellectual circles of

Regenerationism Regenerationism () was an intellectual and political movement in late 19th century and early 20th century Spain. It sought to make objective and scientific study of the causes of Spain's decline as a nation and to propose remedies. It is largely s ...

who hoped to reform Spain after its 1898 defeat in the war versus the United States. The café passed to the Contreras family in 1909 and continued as a famous Madrid institution. Don Antonio Contreras was a native of

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

the café was taken over by its own employees. After the war, it was frequented by the journalists of '' Arriba'', the official organ of the

Movimiento Nacional The Movimiento Nacional () was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist Spain#Francoism, Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of parti ...

and later of

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe Comercial Restaurants in Madrid 1887 establishments in Spain Coffeehouses and cafés in Spain

Characteristics

History

See also

Notes