Government
Barcelona's Fight Against Bar Crawls
It’s all part of the city’s struggle with its role as a tourism hotspot.
If you prefer to enjoy historic European cities without a side order of binge-drinking crowds and spew-slicked sidewalks, there’s good news from Barcelona this week. The new mayor of Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella (Old City) district, Gala Pin, has vowed to crack down on the organized bar crawls that pack the area at night.
These bar crawls typically involve younger tourists handing over around €15, getting a shot or two in four different bars, and staggering around the narrow streets of old Barcelona on ever weaker legs as they get drunker. Pin has promised to clear these wayward drinkers out for good—at least in their mob form—by properly levying existing fines that haven’t as yet been fully enforced.