Madrid’s Robin Hood restaurant a heartwarming reminder of Spain’s generosity

The Robin Hood Restaurant charges paying patrons a normal amount, reopening in the evening to serve a free dinner to poor customers.

While the whole world appears to decry the appointment of Donald Trump as US president as a return to fascism, many alive in Spain today are old enough to remember real fascism in the form of the Franco Era, which only ended in 1975…

Perhaps it is because of Spain’s recent experience with such a form of dictatorship for government that the majority of its election victories since then have taken the country a little bit further along the way towards progressivism. And while some may argue that the current PP government is a little too right-wing for many tastes, there is no denying that the tendency of most Spaniards – particularly younger Spaniards – leans to the left.

Nowhere is this more evident than through the doors of the Robin Hood Restaurant in Madrid. Having opened in December last year, the restaurant has become something of a social media sensation for sticking to one simple premise – charging the rich to feed the poor.

Its business model goes something like this: during the day, the cosy establishment located in a side street in the capital’s centre serves breakfast and lunch to ordinary patrons. They arrive, order, enjoy, pay and leave.

But it is when the Robin Hood restaurant reopens in the evening that things change. For dinner, the restaurant serves excellent sit-down meals for people who cannot afford to pay, be they homeless, jobless or merely struggling to make ends meet.

Run by the charity Mensajeros de la Paz (Messengers of Peace), the Robin Hood Restaurant treats all patrons with the exact same respect and courtesy, and has been handling up to 100 down on their luck men and women each evening since it opened.

“The inspiration came from Pope Francis, who’s spoken again and again about the importance of giving people dignity, whether it’s through bread or through work,” Father Ángel García Rodríguez, who set the charity up 54 years ago, told the Guardian.

“So we thought, why not open a restaurant with tablecloths and proper cutlery and waiters? People with nothing can come and eat here in the restaurant and get the same treatment as everyone else. It’s just common sense.”

Charitable, liberal and with its roots in traditional Christian sensibilities, the Robin Hood Restaurant is a reminder of Spain’s generosity of spirit that millions of holidaymakers and expats experience every year.