Cantabria subsidizes with up to 2,000 euros the bars in depopulated areas.

The Official Gazette of Cantabria publishes this Monday, 17 August 2026, in its issue No. 157, the call for subsidies aimed at bars located in Cantabria municipalities at risk of depopulation. The resolution, signed on 5 August by the Minister for Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Begoña Gómez del Río, establishes grants of up to 2,000 euros per establishment in order to prevent and overcome social isolation and unwanted loneliness.

The call is approved by means of Resolution of 5 August 2026 (official reference: CVE-2026-6483), under the regulatory bases of Order ISO/05/2026, of 21 June, published in BOC No. 122, of 26 June 2026. The line has its precedent in the social isolation prevention programme funded with Next Generation EU funds within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, implemented in 2025 through Order ISO/11/2025, of 18 June. Once that programme ended, the Government of Cantabria continues the support with the Autonomous Community’s own funds, under a competitive bidding regime.

Amount and eligible expenses

The total budget for the call amounts to 50,000 euros, charged to budget item 07.05.231E.481 “Unwanted loneliness subsidies – bars” of the 2026 regional budget. Each establishment may receive a maximum of 2,000 euros, variable depending on the expenditure justified, and only one application per bar will be accepted.

Eligible for funding are current maintenance expenses whose invoices were paid between 1 January and 31 December 2025:

• General supplies of water, electricity, gas and fuels for heating and domestic hot water.
• Fees for internet, television or audiovisual platform services.

Excluded are taxes and levies, including VAT, the special tax on electricity and the tax on hydrocarbons.

Requirements for beneficiaries and establishments

Applications may be submitted by natural or legal persons who are owners of bars permanently registered in the General Register of Tourism Enterprises of Cantabria and located in any of the municipalities included in the annex to Order PRE/1/2025, of 2 January, approving the delimitation of municipalities affected by risk of depopulation. In addition, the following conditions must be met:

• That there are no more than two bars in operation in the town where the establishment is located.
• Being open to the public on a stable basis, at least five days a week, throughout the year.
• Not incurring the prohibitions set out in Article 12.2 of Law of Cantabria 10/2006, of 17 July, on Subsidies.

Excluded are kiosks, booths, tents, vans and other occasional installations, as well as bars integrated into the business of operating service stations.

Deadline and processing

Applications may be submitted within twenty business days from the day following the publication of the extract of the call, also published this Monday with the official reference CVE-2026-6496 and registered in the National Database of Grants with identifier 922495. The processing corresponds to the General Directorate for Dependency, Social and Health Care and Unwanted Loneliness, which will resolve through an abbreviated procedure according to the order of entry of complete applications until the credit is exhausted, with a maximum period of three months to resolve.

Processing will preferably be done electronically through the Electronic Headquarters of the Government of Cantabria (sede.cantabria.es), with the forms available on the institutional portal and at the 012 Citizen Attention telephone.

With this line, the Cantabrian Executive recognizes the role of bars as authentic social centers of coexistence in rural areas, where alternative meeting resources often do not exist. Sustaining these establishments contributes to retaining population and combating the unwanted loneliness of a usually aging population, one of the main demographic challenges of the community.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, No. 157, August 17, 2026, p. 37535 (official reference: CVE-2026-6483) and extract on p. 37546 (official reference: CVE-2026-6496).