tales

Segons el que diu el poble, un dels primers establiments que van obrir-se a la Plaça Reial va ésser un bordell dissimulat sota l’aspecte d’una botiga de vendre barrets, instal·lada amb gran luxe. Tots els barrets costaven un mateix preu. Si el client pagava amb una moneda de major valor s’entenia que estava en el secret del veritable tipus de l’establiment i hom l’invitava a pujar a l’entresòl per tornar-li el canvi. Si pagava el preu just que li demanaven pel barret s’entenia que era un innocent que havia acudit a la botiga i que ignorava el seu veritable negoci. Aquest establiment va donar origen al qualificatiu de “casa de barrets”, aplicat als bordells, especialment als vergonyants i dissimulats. Diuen que a la Baixada de la Presó hi hagué una altra botiga per l’estil, dissimulada sota l’aspecte d’una guanteria. Aquesta mena d’establiments no van arrelar, van durar molt poc temps.

(Amades, 1984: 635).

'According to what people say, one of the first shops to open at Plaça Reial (‘Royal Square’) was a whorehouse disguised as a hat shop, which was so luxurious. All the hats cost the same price. If the customer paid more than needed, it meant that he knew the secret of the shop and he was asked to go to the mezzanine to get the change. If he paid exactly what he was asked for the hat, it meant that he was an innocent man who’d come to the shop and was unaware of the real business of the place. This shop was the origin of the qualifier casa de barrets (‘house of hats’) to refer to whorehouses, especially to the most hidden and shameful. They tell that at la Baixada de la Presó (‘the Descent of the Prison’) there was another shop of the same kind, disguised as a glove shop. This sort of shops didn’t settle down and lasted for a very short time.'