What was the first positive thing you found out when you first heard of Belgrade? For most foreigners it was the nightlife. Due to the fact that the city authorities now consider shortening the working hours of clubs and cafes to 23h this one positive thing may disappear from the list of the good things in Belgrade.
The noise of the cafes and behavior of the guests can really be irritating for the people living near the Belgrade cafes, but i’m sure there’s got to be some other way to solve this problem. Banning all nightlife after 23h would really be disaster on some other levels despite that it can be good for the neighbourhood.
Update from Bg anon: The Belgrade advisory (secreteriat) comittee proposes that Belgrade cafes, Belgrade restaurants and pubs be allowed to function from 10 AM to 11 PM. At weekends from 10 AM to 12 PM. Licensed nightclubs and discos opening hours from 7 PM to 5 AM.
It is a proposal at this stage and there is disagreement within the city authorities but a decision will be made within the next 2 months.
My own opinion is that a compromise will be reached that will slightly favour Belgrades nightlife over the residents – which is as it should be. Residents do also benefit in terms of more expensive rents, higher property prices. The weekend proposals seem particularly over the top to me. One has to tolerate a certain amount of noise in the evening on weekends in the city centre and elsewhere. Expecting people just to vanish at midnight on a weekend is a fantasy.
But citizens groups are organising themselves quite well. For example 2,000 residents of central Belgrade have signed a letter sent to Belgrade authorities demanding that the eleven o clock rule is put in place. Not surprisingly they are backed by the Ministry of Religion – ‘what on earth are people doing up at that time? Sinning no doubt.’
Opposing the drastic limitation are businesses, economic and tourist ministries. It will be interesting to see the result of all of this. But I dont believe that one of the greatest plus points of Serbian modern culture will be cut dead like this.
It simply wont be allowed to happen.
Viktor: I predict a hefty debate in Belgrade and a whole new picture of nightlife if this new regulation is to be implemented, since it is difficult to imagine this kind of situation that you have to go home around midnight on weekends. Some suggestions, experiences and advice from abroad may really come in handy.
How is this situation resolved in your city/town/country? Does it work? Are you satisfied with the results personally?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m very sceptic about these regulations. You know, we’re in Serbia and your remember what happened to the smoking ban, some media attention and then…nothing, we still smoke as we used to. Besides, we the Serbs are a innovative nation, surely some shopkeepers will employ our characteristical “inat” a la Mile vs. Transition.
Greetings from Plovdiv (Bulgaria) where I finally have some Internet access.
Not much fun living next door if you’ve got to get up for work the next day. And some foreigners are still waiting for the positive experience of Belgrade Photo Blog!
Welcome back Viktor !
Well… I really hope this situation wills not happened in Belgrade… or they might as well introduce the smoking prohibition!!!
Actually, and from my experience of Belgrade, it’s not that bad. I remember walking in strahinica bana at 3 am; and believe me or not; it’s almost dead.
In my dear city of Geneva the situation is the following:
Café should be closed between 1 and 2 a.m. every day of the week – no exception for the week-end. If you want to have fun after that you have few alternatives.
Going to a night club or disco club, going to a cabaret, going to a squat or staying out in the city during the summer with some beers and food. Should I mention that the first two solution are pretty expensive since the owners take advantage of the situation and made a fortune out of one beer or one whiskey?
So the system is working pretty well and there was never the need to close the café at 23h00… hopefully ! Maybe the Swiss drinkers are less noisy than Serbian savages? Not sure…. really not sure; there are plenty of genuine savage down in clean Switzerland too
I also remember some trip to Croatia (Split) where I was amazed that pubs where closing at 1 am during the week…. What a sadness; you couldn’t continue a good discussion or that little flirt you started in that particular atmosphere… I don’t need to say how I regretted Belgrade!!!
Solutions ? You don’t have many I suppose. I will not touch the existing but I will ask my friend panduri to do there job when it’s closing time! And highly fine (and then maybe close for 2 months) cafés staying open after the official hours. And the people living around cafés? Well…. Lucky them… they can haggle the rent or just enjoy a good pivo around 1 am if they can’t sleep… or they can just move in vukojebina were it’s maybe more calm.
The problem in Serbia, in general, is re-gu-la-tion!!! If things were well regulated, some problems will never occurs… but again… it might also bring in some boredom!
Viva Belgrade!
Hi, I really like the new(or at least relatively new) motif for the blog. Very well organized and appealing to the eye.
In certain US cities there have also been debates over how long bars and nightclubs should be kept open. Much of the debate stems over ways to control the effect of drunk driving; as oppose to issues of noise pollution and the residents in the area. There has been talk by certain bars to actually extend their hours in order to lessen the chance of someone driving home intoxicated.
Is drunk driving a problem in Belgrade?
What role the issue of alchol and intoxication and behavior as a result of being drunk play in this debate?
From the article, I got the impression that the debate in Belgrade is primarily between the opperators of the nightclub/tourist/bussiness leaders and community activist/residence and the debate is primarily over noise level etc.
I found this article on a bar in Florida, where they are proposing to keep the bar open an extra hour (with no alchohol being sold during the last hour) for the puropose of curbing the effect of drunk driving. The theory is that patrons won’t be rushed out and have more time to deal with the effects of alchol.
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/050218barhours.php
For the most part in the Yakima Gulag, bars are not right in residential areas, but still close pretty early. In San Francisco they’d close at about 1 am, but if you were friends with the bar-keeper you could stay on and help clean up sometimes, particularly at the Irish bars like Psddy Nolan’s bar, he was a good man, he’s been dead ten years now.
! or the Plough and Stars, famed for music, one could stay on and help clean up. This meant that a person would have time to be a little more sober on leaving the premises.
Here in the Yakima Gulag, closeing time is very strictly enforced, partly by the help, who want to get home at a good time, and by the police who fine heavily. So most of the time, even during music festivals one is home early. Nothing like Guca would ever happen in the Yakima Gulag na zalost!
Bad driving is a more serious problem in Belgrade than drink driving – it would seem.
There isnt much linkage going on with the alcohol issue here. Bear in mind that alcohol is pretty socially acceptible in Serbia and not seen as a problem unless you are an obvious alcoholic (street bum shall we say).
No the real issue for residents is the noise. And yes noise is a problem but Belgrade is a city and they live in the centre.
I’ve been thinking more about this and have come to the conclusion that even if such a law is passed its unlikely to be implemented with much comittment.