Latest: Coronavirus in Spain figures (1 Oct)
The Catalan government is allowing nightlife establishments (music bars, clubs and discos) to stay open until 3am from Friday 24 September, but only venues with outside spaces. The indoor spaces of these venues must still remain closed.
This is two and a half hours later than current pandemic restrictions allow. These establishments will also have 30 extra minutes to ensure the venue is vacated, until 3.30am.
Restaurants and bars will be able to serve customers until 1am, half-an-hour more than the current restrictions.
The measures were confirmed by the civil protection coordination committee Procicat on Monday evening.
The decision coincides with Barcelona and Tarragona about to enjoy their annual celebrations, La Mercè and Santa Tecla, and following pressure from local authorities to re-open nightlife in an attempt to avoid mass street drinking parties known as botellones. Some 8,000 people attended an illegal party on the UAB university campus in Barcelona on Saturday.
On Sunday, Ada Colau, the Barcelona Mayor, called for the re-opening of nightlife ahead of La Mercè.
‘Now that the curfew has been lifted and the cap on social gatherings has also been removed, and that authorities have sent out the message that with over 70% of the population vaccinated, we can practically return to normal life but for face masks. People want to go out and recover their social life,’ she said in an interview with El Periódico.
Latest figures on Monday show that over 36 million people in Spain have now been fully vaccinated against Covid. This is 75.9% of the total population – and 85.5% of the population aged over 12.
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