'I left UK for Spain eight years ago but neighbours are now fuming at what's happened'

A British expat has spoken about how life has changed in Barcelona (Image: Getty)

A resident of Barcelona who left the UK eight years ago has said that locals are now irate over the transformation of their neighbourhoods.

Gemma Askham moved to the popular Spanish city in 2017 for her half-Spanish husband’s job, and has lived there ever since.

Whilst the first six years went by relatively smoothly, the uptick in expats, combined with the anti-tourism sentiment driven by the Southern Europe Network Against Touristification (SET) movement, has changed the neighbourhood.

As a result of the influx of foreigners and tourists to Barcelona, the economy has adapted to their tastes and needs, instead of the other way around. Whist there has always been a shifting dynamic between expats and the country they choose to call home, Gemma said this was exacerbated following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Writing in Grazia, she said: “In 2023, a street pedestrianisation project aimed at improving community life was completed. But there are now eight English-named brunch cafes within two blocks.”

Some expats Barcelona has quietened down due to reduced tourist numbers (Image: Getty)

She added that her 69-year-old neighbour, Toni Fontclara, was “bemused” by people queueing up at 11 o’clock in the morning for avocado on toast “a dish not from the region, served at an unheard-of eating hour for the Spanish, with a menu in a language he doesn’t speak”.

Gemma isn’t the only expat to have commented on the changing face of Barcelona, that has seen a reduction in tourists following years of anti-tourism protests.

Another Briton, also living in Barcelona, said that certain areas of the city had become a lot less busy, as people are put off from travelling there.

Laura, who has lived in the city for two-and-a-half years, took to social media to post videos of empty streets earlier this month, documenting how quiet they were throughout the day.

She said: “Day one of recording how quiet Barcelona is now the tourists don't feel welcome. The businesses must be feeling it The streets are so quiet now. These businesses last year used to wake me up in the morning. One has just recently been renovated.”

The documentary evidence serves to show how effective some of the protests have been, but others are divided over their purpose.

Whilst some protesters have been calling for tourists to go home, others believe the protests are a result of a desire to protect locals, rather than antagonise tourists.

Professor Marina Novelli explained: “Places like Lisbon, Venice and Barcelona are increasingly reduced to lifestyle backdrops where locals feel like strangers. The SET movement is about cross-border solidarity. Ultimately, it’s not anti-tourist, it’s pro-resident.”