Budapest's famed party district is undergoing significant changes as new measures have been put in place to limit the opening hours of bars, restaurants and clubs. As present, only venues which meet the municipality’s strict criteria will be allowed to stay open past midnight. The list of these places given the green light has just been published.
The issue of how to reduce noise in the party zone was again raised this March, after years of debate between council members, local residents and bar owners, and adopted into regulation at the end of June. The measure affects restaurants, bars and clubs in the area bounded by Király utca – Erzsébet körút – Rákóczi út – Károly körút. Only those who comply with a set of rules can now open between midnight and 6am.
Rules include the inclusion of a power control device into the sound system, to keep volumes below a certain threshold; to ensure that guests do not take their drinks out into the streets; that no containers or goods are to be moved between 10pm and 8am; that toilets must be accessible to everyone after midnight, not just guests; the pavement in front of the entrance must be power-washed twice daily; a person must be employed to keep order among guests; the use of disposable plastic cups is to be replaced by reusable, branded cups; special doors are to be installed depending on capacity; and a separate waste shipment contract is to be included.
These strict measures are considered by many in the catering business to be the strictest silence decree of all time, and it comes at the middle of a three-month quarantine and lack of foreign tourists, causing increased financial burdens to those impacted by the decree. On the other hand, local residents have long lived with the wild cahoots of drunken visitors, watching their district descend into an unsustainable situation.
About 400 restaurants and bars lie within the affected area, about which a third – 138 – applied by the August deadline to retain opening hours after midnight. Of these, 109 have been licensed so far. An Excel sheet lists these venues, and many of the district’s prominent party spots are included, so ultimately the change might feel minimal.
Cheaper late-night drinkeries on the Grand Boulevard such as the Ördögkatlan, 4-es, 6-os and Gong are all on the list, as well as high-capacity clubs and ruin bars such as Ellátóház, Szimplakert, Füge udvar, Udvarrom, Doboz, the Fogas-Instant-Robot complex and the Cat Club. Post-midnight food is also still available, at places like Pizza Me, and there’s no need to say goodbye to other popular bars, like Dzzs, Fekete Kutya, Kisüzem, Kőleves kert, Központ and Csipesz. On the other hand, classics such as Vittula and Telep are not to be found so far on the list.
The number of applicants for the permit may expand in the future. Now, mainly due to the issue of the Grand Boulevard bike lanes and traffic-calming closures, the Facebook group of VII District residents is buzzing with discussion. It is still too premature to draw too many conclusions on the future of the district, but it’s sure that change is in the air.
