Nightclubs to reopen on 21 June after 15 months closed

BarcelonaBars and nightclubs will be open for Sant Joan. The Government and the sector have agreed on the reopening of nightlife fifteen months after its closure due to the pandemic. With the final touches yet to be agreed, activity is expected to resume from Monday 21 June. Clubs will be allowed to open until 3 am -and then they will have an extra half hour for clients to vacate the building- and bars will be allowed to extend their activity another half hour, until half past three in the morning.

The Federation of Nightlife Premises, the Fecasarm, has celebrated an agreement with the Departments of Health and Home Affairs. The proposal includes that inside premises capacity will have to be kept at 50%, but outside it may be 100%. There will be no need for safety distance and the premises will recover dance floors, one of sector's main claims, which explained that many of the businesses were not profitable if you could not dance. "It was a key element to considering reopening," explained the secretary general of Fecasarm, Joaquim Boadas. Users will have to wear a mask and cannot drink while they are dancing in this area. Even so, Boadas estimates that 100% of the premises may reopen with these conditions, which may be modified subject to epidemiological indicators of the moment. "If you could not reopen the dance floor, only 40% of the premises would have reopened," he insisted.

The secretary general of the Fecasarm has described the pact reached today as "historic", after 15 months during which these businesses have remained closed. "Many businesses have been left behind," said Boadas, who believes losses to amount to €4bn in the sector over the last year. In fact, their representatives had already started a legal battle demanding they be allowed to reopen, first in the Catalan courts and then in the High Court. Both the administration and the courts had decided to maintain the closure, which will now be lifted.

Gyms and sports equipment, without prior appointment

The exact conditions of the reopening of nightlife could still be modified by Procicat depending on how the pandemic evolves. However, this organism has already validated the modification of the restrictions on sports equipment. As of Monday there will be no need to book an appointment to use gyms and sports equipment. Instead, access controls will be made and establishments will have to keep a record of users to ensure that the capacity does not exceed 70% of capacity and that contacts can be traced in case of a positive.

From Monday, end-of-year and graduation ceremonies for non-university students will also be permitted. Although this is not compulsory, it is recommended that they be held outside, with a maximum of 500 people. If the event is to be held indoors, Procicat does establish a maximum capacity of 250 people, who must leave an empty chair between them, and the consumption of food and drink is prohibited

The public will also return to all professional football and basketball stadiums, under conditions to be determined by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD). In fact, the CSD already said last week that the professional competitions of the La Liga and the ACB basketball could be held again with public and set a maximum of 1,500 spectators for football matches and a thousand for basketball.