Pablo Iglesias seen drying cutlery at his new Madrid bar

Pablo Iglesias dries two forks and opens a bar

One minute. Two forks. And the rolled-up cloth. The first documented work shift of Pablo Iglesias behind the counter of his own tavern in Lavapiés fits into that shot: the former Deputy Prime Minister drying cutlery on the eve of the venue's opening, with the facade covered overnight by threatening graffiti. The gesture, spread by the account of the media outlet reporting the story, was enough to unleash laughter and suspicion in equal measure. Because the detail most repeated is not the threat itself: it is the cloth. Anyone who has worked facing the public knows that a fork dries in three seconds and that rolling up the cloth for the second fork is not a rest, but a pose. El chepas, they say, is already working at the bar. Working, what one calls working, is something else.

The Garibaldi tavern and the cocktail honoring Durruti

The business is called Garibaldi and is located in Lavapiés. Its menu antiestéticatures a cocktail paying tribute to Buenaventura Durruti, according to information accompanying the inauguration, and familiar faces from the political sphere of the promoter were spotted there: former minister Irene Montero and several officials and regular collaborators of the ecosystem. However, the staging does not convince part of the audience, who see the cutlery gesture as more of an image operation than a hospitality project. Some argue that others will handle the bulk of the work and that the owner's role will be limited to the photo.

Graffiti on the facade and the staging theory

The facade appeared with threatening graffiti the morning before opening. The majority reaction in the conversation was not solidarity: it was suspicion. Many messages point to a false flag, meaning that friends of the promoter himself would have created the graffiti to fabricate a victimhood narrative and, incidentally, get free publicity. The argument relies on the temporal coincidence—one day before the inauguration—and the character's track record. Others, however, consider the threat real and minimizing it a mistake. The discussion, in any case, leaves an uncomfortable fact: the attack, if it was one, has functioned as a launch campaign.

Is a bar in Lavapiés profitable or is it something else?

Here the analysis splits in two. One block argues that a bar is a business with narrow margins, twelve hours standing, and daily cash handling, and that someone without trade skills won't last the first year. The most repeated forecast is closure within months. The opposing block does not dispute the sector's difficulty: it disputes the purpose. The most cited hypothesis is money laundering, in the context of reports about public contracting schemes affecting people close to the Government. There is no judicial ruling backing this accusation, and it is formulated as such: as suspicion, not as fact. Another current, more prosaic, suggests the venue is a tool for political repositioning: returning to the neighborhood, to the image of proximity, after years of villa life and security escorts.

Collateral effect: negative reviews for another Garibaldi

Confusion has wreaked havoc. A homonymous cocktail bar, unrelated to the project, has started receiving negative reviews from people who think they are rating the former Deputy Prime Minister's tavern. The episode, almost comic, illustrates the level of polarization: the name of the venue already functions as a battlefield before the kitchen has even heated up. It has also served for some to point out the obvious: that publicity, even hostile publicity, is still publicity.

What anyone who has worked in hospitality asks

Self-employment registration, food handler certificate, occupational risk prevention course. These are the questions that have appeared in the conversation and that no one has answered with documents. It is not a minor detail: a venue open to the public requires a chain of procedures that cannot be resolved with a photo. If the owner is going to be behind the counter, he will have to prove them. If he is not going to be there, the question changes: then, who is the actual person responsible for the business?

What is striking is not that a former Deputy Prime Minister opens a bar. What is striking is that the bar has become a thermometer for something else: whether his narrative of returning to the people holds up or not. With the cutlery drying themselves on the counter, the answer remains open. How long until the second cloth appears?