How will nightlife be from June 21 after 15-month Covid closure?

Nightlife is one of the only sectors that has remained closed ever since the pandemic broke out in March 2020. 

The sector has been struggling during the 15-month hiatus and has been lobbying in the past few months for a reopening. 

In the end, the Catalan government and nightlife businesses agreed earlier this month to reopen from June 21, midnight Sunday night into Monday morning – something that was greenlighted by the civil protection body Procicat on Wednesday. 

Based on a plan for nightclubs and other late-night venues approved in mid-May, authorities have set the regulations under which such venues will be able to open from Monday: 

Clubs will be able to remain open until 3.30 am.

A capacity limit of 50% will be placed on venues for indoor spaces, but 100% for outdoor spaces.

Venues with a capacity of more than 500 people must employ an electronic booking system for ticket sales. For smaller venues, this will be a recommendation only.

All venues, no matter how big, must keep a record of names and contact details of anyone buying tickets at the box office for at least a month, in order to help contact tracing in the event of Covid-19 outbreak – the electronic booking system will work as a database, but in small venues, this can also be done manually. 

Indoors, a maximum of 6 people per group will be allowed, whereas outdoors, this will be raised to 10. In both cases, safety distancing of at least 1.5 meters between them. 

Dancing on the dancefloor will be allowed with a face mask. 

Procicat accepted the reopening of the sector taking into account several pilot tests performed in the past months, including the concerts in Sala Apolo and Palau Sant Jordi, as well as the clinical trial in Sitges, where five night bars welcomed customers for one night on May 20. The outcome of the event in the seaside town south of Barcelona will be announced on Friday.