The whole story begins in the middle of the 19th century when Joan's great-great-grandfather, Joan Barber, sold fish in the old Mercat on Sant Crist Street, which at that time was the Old Camí Ral that connected the Sants neighborhood with the city of Barcelona.
Following the construction of steam factories, prohibited in the old part of the city. The exponential growth of the neighborhood due to the presence of the blue-collar workers of said factory led to the transfer of said market in 1864 to what it was and currently is, Plaça Osca, very close to the large textile factory of La España Industrial of the Muntadas family, which was built in what was then the Villa de Santa María de Sants.
The construction of homes for these workers and the proximity to the factory caused this market to grow until, according to historians, there were 500 stalls with the different food and household products that were sold at the time. By 1893 the square and its surroundings were completely collapsed, so it was proposed to build a roof to cover the stalls and which would remain inside a building with minimal facilities, but all of this was paralyzed because four years later the town of Sants was annexed to the city of Barcelona, but with popular pressure from the neighborhood that did not want to lose its autonomy as a city council, to satisfy the demand it was proposed to build a new market on the current location of the Carrer Sant Jordi event, at that time in which, in 50 kilo wooden boxes, the hake came, covered with fern for better preservation.
Malaga sardines came in wicker baskets.
And the clams from Punta Umbría in their own cane baskets made by the women
The swordfish wrapped in esparto grass mats, covered with palm trees. And at that moment the great-grandfather decided to avoid family fights to diversify the business into two branches and decided to continue the business with one of his daughters in the Mercat de Sants and the other son with another fishmonger in the Mercat D'Hostafrancs.
From the first of the branches we derive to date, we, as continuators of the saga, with initially my grandmother and later my parents "La Carmeta" and "el Siscu" have treasured all the knowledge and philosophy of our ancestors and With their experience and knowledge of the world of fish we have gotten to where we are, offering our customers a selected quality product and a final service, a product of current trends but based on all the knowledge that we have been receiving over several generations, all Thank them, and serve this website at the same time as a promotion of our stop, the recognition and remembrance of everyone.
