Palma city council is this summer going to tighten up its restrictions on bar opening hours and noise pollution in the capital. The tough action, which will also include higher fines, was approved at yesterday's council meeting and once all the small print has been agreed on, opening times etc., the new laws will come into effect in the middle of June. The council will also distinguish between bars with music and bars without and those with music will be classified as clubs and discos on the one hand and bars with music or concert/live music bars on the other, each governed by a different set of rules and regulations. Bars will also be given set opening and closing times. The previous law which stipulated that bars had to be closed for at least two hours before re-opening provided the loop hole for all the after hours late night drinking dens. Bars with music will have to install larger entrances with more space between the main doors and the actual bar area and there will have to be at least 225 metres between bars and clubs. There will be two sets of opening hours, one for the summer from May 15 to October 15 and the other for the winter. In the summer, bars without music will be allowed to open between 05.30 am and 02.30 during the week, closing at 03.00 on the weekends and fiestas. Bars with music and clubs will be able to open at 16.00, closing at 03.00 during the week and 05.15 at weekends. At the moment bars and restaurants close at 04.00 and the clubs at 06.00. However, for those bars with music who fail to carry out the required reformations, they will have to close at 02.30. Failing to comply with the new norms could result in immediate closure of between two and three months, depending on the severity of the infraction, or a heavy fine of a maximum 1.800 euros, until now the heaviest sanction has been a fine in Palma.
Palma council cracks down on noise