Goodbye to the ‘Crawling Pub’: Barcelona extends the prohibition of alcohol routes throughout the day and throughout the city | News from Catalonia

The Barcelona City Council has extended to the entire city and during the 24 hours a day the prohibition of among public establishments with the objective of guaranteeing citizen coexistence, as reported, this decree will be valid for four years from its entry into force. and that begins a period of twenty days of public information, which prohibits organizing, selling or making circuits or itineraries by various public concurrence establishments or leisure premises in the city.

The activity, known as pub crawling, It is a form of business, in the field of leisure, which consists in promoting alcohol consumption through a tour of a series of establishments attached to a price offer.

The new text also prohibits advertising dissemination by any means of activities related to this business. Until now, the activity of the organized routes for alcohol consumption was restricted only in the districts of Ciutat Vella -from 2012 -and Eixample -since June 1 of this year. The decrees established the prohibition that especially protected the night schedule, from 7:00 p.m. to 7.00.

Since it has been detected that this activity occurs throughout the year, and any time of the day, the new decree establishes that the prohibition is not seasonal, but permanent, during the 24 hours of the day. There is usually a promoter in charge of looking for groups of people and concentrates them in one of the premises to start the tour.

The offer is to consume one or more drinks, normally of low quality and relatively rapidly, to immediately move to the following establishment. Therefore, it has been identified as a risk factor that can be derived from crimes or road safety infractions.

In addition, the decree is aligned with the objectives set forth in Law 20/1985, of July 25, on prevention and assistance in substances that can generate dependence, since, in addition to the protection of neighborhood rest, the text also emphasizes the need to protect public health.

The new text of the Coexistence Ordinance will contemplate this prohibition in section 4 of article 46 with this drafted: “It is also especially prohibited from organizing, selling or conducting circuits or itineraries by various establishments of public concurrence or leisure premises of the city, with the main purpose that the people who participate consume alcoholic beverages continuously, as well as transfer or return to these people”.

In Barcelona, favored by the high presence of tourists -main clients of the routes -, by the concentration of bars and premises willing to integrate into routes of this type, and by the subsequent leisure alternatives for the participants. Given the prohibition in Ciutat Vella, the activity was partly moved to the Eixample district, which has also recently approved the prohibition.

According to the data provided by the Urban Guard, and has helped prevent them thanks to the previous detection for the offer through social networks. Administrative and police control was key to maintaining the situation under control. In fact, if in 2012 the Urban Guard imposed in Ciutat Vella a total of 58 complaints related to the organization of routes between establishments, including the distribution of advertising in this regard, last year only three complaints filed.