Barcelona turns down proposal to create regulated ‘group drinking’ sites

The Barcelona deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, has rejected a proposal by the city Ombudsman to create spaces for street group drinking in a controlled and regulated way. 

The city Ombudsman, David Bondia, wanted these sites to be safe and for people to have a good time, but the goal is that these places do not become massified drinking areas.

The spaces were supposed to have all the "security, information, and trust" standards for citizens to enjoy a night of leisure. All these needs would be fulfilled with fast access to health emergency services, feminist and anti-racist areas, as well as sites containing information on drug consumption. 

Some other measures to make places safe, according to an Ombudsman survey, included public toilets, garbage collection, and easy access to public transport, adding possible discounts for sharing a taxi. 

However, the city council has denied the idea as "it is not part of the city council agenda," Jaume Collboni said. 

The suggestion would "provoke harmful effects against teens" such as "excessive alcohol consumption, new coexistence problems, and an increase in cleaning and security cost," he added. 

The idea has already been tested in other cities without the desired effect, Collboni claimed.   

The proposal had also been received with concern by the nightlife sector. 

The Fecalon association, of which some of Catalonia’s night businesses are part, considered the idea as a "bad quality low-cost leisure" option. 

They claimed not to be against "alternative" leisure choices but mass drinking is one of the biggest threats faced by the sector and coexistence with neighbors. 

"People drink on the streets because the practice is not fully punished," Fernando Martínez, Fecalon secretary-general, said. The first thing authorities should do is "to stop the feeling of impunity," he added, comparing crowd drinking to street vending.

The street drinking practice has increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and the closure of the nightlife sector, the association believes. Therefore, bars and clubs are an "indispensable service" to avoid it, and the "real" problem is the lack of such establishments in Barcelona and the metropolitan area. 

In the last 15 years, over 200 clubs and music bars have had to close, according to figures released by Fecalon and Barcelona’s Nightclubs Association. The closure has affected up to 90,000 teenagers as they do not have a place to go. 

Interior minister wants coordination  

Street group drinking will not disappear and that is why it will need to be tackled, the Catalan interior minister, Joan Ignasi Elena, said during a Radio Estel interview on Thursday. 

However,  the so-called 'botellons' will need to be "coordinated" between city councils, entities, the nightlife sector, and law enforcement agents, Elena said.  

The situation seen during the last summer, the minister explained, is due to different circumstances brought along by the Covid-19 pandemic. In September and October 2021, hundreds of people were detained after mass drinking on the streets and several nights of disturbances.