Horeca businesses come up with their own ways to avoid having to carry out a QR check during Carnival. On Friday, during the kick-off of carnival, almost all corona rules will disappear. But one measure remains: everyone must be tested with more than five hundred visitors. The so-called 1G policy is a thorn in the side for the large pubs in Brabant. So they come up with something.
At Stadscafé Spijker in the center of Eindhoven, they are busy converting the business for six days of parties and polonaise. And this year that means not only decorating the place and stocking up on copious amounts of booze, but also dividing the place in half.
By placing glass doors, they divide Spijker into two different areas, splitting the number of visitors. One room can accommodate three hundred revelers, the other has room for five hundred people. This way there is no need to check the QR code.
“It is difficult to see whether there are 480 or 520 visitors, but we try to keep to the imposed rules,” says manager Luc Bekers.
At the Stratumseind in Eindhoven, there are also mainly smaller cafes that have room for less than five hundred visitors. They can open for carnival from Friday without restrictions.
At nightclub De Oude Rechtbank they are normally well over that. But not during Carnival. “In order to get out of the QR code controls, the maximum number of visitors has now been set at five hundred,” says an employee.
“We want everyone to be able to enter and also keep it fun for everyone. More visitors and then checking for that QR code, there’s no getting around that. Then there are long lines outside, while everyone just wants to go wild.”
Paul van Boxtel owns Café Philip in Tilburg, which consists of three different floors. According to him, more than eight hundred people can enter. He does not like the mandatory corona check during carnival anyway.
“I just open without a ticket,” says Paul. “They are allowed to kiss, hug and enter without a QR code in the entire street, and then suddenly everyone would have to show me a test certificate. That doesn’t work for us.”
According to the bar owner ‘the policy makes no sense’. “If I have to, I will open the side door to the top floor as a separate entrance. But who am I kidding? Because inside you can just walk from floor to floor.”