Neighborhood bars in Lugano: amid closures and new challenges

Context

TL;DR

• Bar Laura closed after 32 years
• The Canton did not renew the contract
• Reto Blumenthal reopened in Molino Nuovo
• Bar Domingo opens at 6.30 and closes at 20

Key facts

• Case → closure of Bar Laura
• Duration → 32 years
• Reason → failure to renew the contract by the Canton
• New activity by Reto Blumenthal → Molino Nuovo
• Bar Domingo opening hours → 6.30am-8pm
• Opening of Bar Kulma → 2021
• Bar Kulma activities → concerts and DJ sets

Bar Laura closed in Lugano after 32 years of activity, because the Canton did not renew the contract. The end of a historic city venue has rekindled attention on the role of neighborhood bars and the difficulties of their management: rising costs, staff shortages and closures reduce meeting opportunities in the city.

The testimonies collected by the newspaper show that these businesses do not only offer coffee, croissants and aperitifs. Habits, knowledge and relationships are formed around the counter. Merchants must thus combine customer care and the economic and organizational sustainability of their activities.

A place with different rhythms and professions

Reto Blumenthal, former manager of Laura, has in the meantime reopened a business in Molino Nuovo. His experience at Laura is linked to a clientele made up of people with very different professions and rhythms of life. The bar was particularly popular on days when the city's offerings were reduced: on Sundays, when deciding where to go, for many it was automatic to choose that bar.

«We were always open», says Blumenthal.

In the morning the counter welcomed those who prepared the Migros spaces, the street cleaners and those who worked for the post buses; later secretaries, lawyers and bankers arrived. In this way the place brought together people who, in everyday life, would have had few opportunities to meet.

For Blumenthal, the satisfaction of the profession arose from the relationship with customers and the pleasantness of the exchange. His story therefore links the bar's activity to the ability to welcome different people, not just to the sale of drinks. The closure of the Laura adds to that of other city meeting points and brings the value of these places back to the center in the social life of Lugano.

Operational details

Bar Domingo and the continuity of relationships

Bar Domingo offers a second viewpoint on the difficulties faced by small businesses and their everyday function. Manager Lucia Dessi tried to make it a neighborhood bar where everyone could feel at ease. She aimed for a family atmosphere: customers' regular patronage maintained relationships over time that went beyond simple consumption.

This familiarity, however, requires a constant presence. Domingo opens at 6.30 and closes at 20: ensuring coverage over such a broad span becomes difficult when staff is limited. The problem concerns not only the distribution of shifts: to keep the business open, whoever runs it must directly cover a substantial part of the work.

Opening hours and staff

According to Dessi, many small businesses struggle to survive because their managers cannot afford to hire employees. When only two people are responsible for the premises, covering the entire day becomes complicated. Morning opening and evening closing in fact require a level of availability that directly weighs on whoever runs the business.

The manager's account links this difficulty to the gradual disappearance of neighborhood bars. Domingo's opening hours make visible the relationship between hospitality and organization: to offer customers a stable place, the establishment must remain open for much of the day, but shift coverage clashes with the real possibility of hiring staff.

Bar Domingo thus shows that economic and organizational sustainability go hand in hand. The continuity of relationships depends on the establishment being open, while its opening depends on the managers' work and their ability to sustain the hours. In Dessi's account, the difficulty faced by small businesses is therefore not separate from neighborhood life: when a bar disappears, one of the daily opportunities for meeting also diminishes.

The case of Domingo complements that of Laura with a different element. Here the issue is not the failure to renew a contract, but the strain of covering the service and maintaining a family atmosphere over time. The question of bars' survival runs through both situations recounted by Quotidiano.

Key points

Bar Kulma as a cultural space

Alongside more traditional establishments, Lugano is also home to a venue that creates opportunities for social interaction through culture. Bar Kulma, opened in 2021, enlivens neighborhood life with concerts and DJ sets. Its activities broaden the ways in which a bar can become a point of reference, complementing drinks with a program capable of attracting different people.

Concerts, audiences and the neighborhood

Co-manager Sami Besso explains that the events introduce Kulma to new people and give those who frequent it a reason to return. The succession of events thus helps build an audience and strengthen the bond with the venue. The cultural calendar is not described merely as an addition to the bar’s activities, but as a tool for building continuity around the space.

For the other co-manager, Rawirak Pellegrini, this role takes on particular importance. In his view, spaces dedicated to alternative culture have diminished over the years. This is also why Kulma, together with other historic venues in the local scene, becomes an important place for social life in Lugano.

Pellegrini’s account broadens the issue beyond the individual management. The difficulty of keeping these establishments open is not limited to the venue’s commercial performance. It also concerns the vitality of neighborhoods and the availability of meeting places nearby.

The path described for Kulma therefore lies in its ability to bring together the bar and cultural initiatives. Concerts and DJ sets introduce people to the venue, bring patrons back and help consolidate an audience. For Besso and Pellegrini, this dimension explains why the value of an establishment can also be measured by the relationships it manages to generate.

Alongside Laura’s closure and Domingo’s organizational difficulties, Kulma shows a third way of being present in the neighborhood. Cultural programming becomes the means by which the venue supports social life in Lugano and keeps open a possibility for meeting close to home.

Source: rsi.ch