The ‘flyers’ and promotional videos online are unmistakable: a sparkling disco ball on a dance floor, go-go dancers at full speed or a DJ in full session illustrate the parties. A fun which would be totally normal if it were about discos, but which has been repeated for some time in some spaces with other activity. Some social clubs and gay saunas are regularly offering ‘disco’ and ‘afterhours’ sessions, at a time when Barcelona It has been years without granting permits for nightlife and after a long period of closure of public places due to neighborhood complaints and municipal pressure. Now both the leisure sector as residents from different areas denounce various activities without a license: some for unfair competition, and others for the alleged inconvenience they may cause.
The city council has been filing various premises without a license for the activity they carried out, although the ambiguous regulations in the case of social clubs and the picaresque fine print complicates the monitoring of that offer. Clubs broke out a few years ago as an urban phenomenon and were very attractive because they limit access to members, making them more exclusive, and favoring socialization and even ‘networking’ between them. Not a few have spaces for occasional “private parties”, but the problem is when the dance floor it becomes their raison d’être, they point out from the leisure sector.
Neighbors of Eixample They have denounced to this newspaper the case of one located on Calle de Aribau, authorized by the city council as a “house or center for meeting or disseminating the culture, values or hobbies of a specific group& rdquor ;. It should be noted that the activity of private social club just need el communication regime. Said space, aimed especially at the LGTBI collective, organizes, among other initiatives parties with weekly DJs, with free registration and free access, as they literally advertise on their own website and social networks. The sessions, as can be seen in their videos, are for a varied audience, with loud music and colorful montages. A local spokesperson assures this newspaper that the parties are part of their statutesas an activity, and that they have passed all the sonometric tests that prove that they do not cause discomfort.
He also points out that some residents of the area have shown attitudes from the beginning of the project homophobic against the establishment. And that they carry out many other activities cultural and social that will gain weight in the coming weeks.
The consistory informs that the Urban Guard opened a record last April at the premises, which has led to a “file disciplinary for activity not adjusted to the license”. Some protests from employers’ associates fecasarm have led the entity to speak with the city council and Mossos about this and other cases, as they appreciate “unfair competition & rdquor; with respect to discos that comply with strict rules of the game in terms of security, taxes and copyright, they defend.
Neighbors criticize that despite municipal restrictions, the social club format (supposedly for members, but in practice with very flexible entry) is opening the door to covert or illegal nightlife. Another one on the street muntaner It would also be in the spotlight, say sources in the sector.
indoor traps
To date, in this area, only a local without a license that had the intention of operating under the heading of a club on Calle de bruc, although in the end the procedures were not completed, say district sources.
For the other great employer, fecalonthe phenomenon emerges before “the lack of licenses of nightlife activity that the Catalan capital has been experiencing for years, with an increasingly smaller offer”. They believe that enabling new regulated openings illegalities would be avoided and the needs of night owls would be covered with more guarantees. In fact, the proliferation of ‘disco’ sessions without licenses to use was one of the points discussed at their recent meeting with the Barcelona Federation of Vein Associations (FAVB), also concerned about the phenomenon. Another example, this time in a supposed recording studio used as ‘after’, recently caused complaints from residents in the Sant Martí district, until it ended up being closed, as reported by this newspaper.
Advertising on social networks shows that unlicensed establishments install dance floors and bars, after the progressive cut in the regulated nightlife offer
Up in the air is the challenge of correctly fitting the proliferation of social clubs, since currently They do not have a specific regulation that regulates them. Although it depends on its purpose, “they are required to have certain characteristics”, they add from the town hall. For example, if they host a bar For members, the level of noise and acoustic insulation will be that corresponding to a bar. If they have music, more soundproofing will be required. Even if they contemplate the exchange of couples, those reserved must have the measurements and elements of a prostitution venue.
Saunas for dancing
In the case of gay saunas, According to some users, it happens that after the pandemic and with the ‘boom’ of contacts through digital platforms, these spaces have lost traction as points of interaction or flirt. Instead, some see a way out in the activity of nightlifeas it also happens in other big cities.
In the Eixample, a establishment in Diputació For months, it has been announcing its parties with a DJ, dance floor, ‘cruising zone’, jacuzzi and ‘shows’ on networks, from early morning to noon, although its permit is for sauna and gym, reports the district. Again, the neighbors complain that “weekends become an ‘after'”. The premises accumulate various non-compliances since the end of 2020, based on an Urbana act, where it was found that inside they had bar counter, sale of alcohol, spaces for smoking and various deficiencies regarding fire regulations, adds a municipal spokesperson.
Add that they have been opened disciplinary records due to noise, consumption of non-alcoholic beverages and, above all, due to “activity not adjusted” to the license. The file reached the contentious-administrative court, where its owners are trying to avoid the closure, and a high penalty has been imposed on them that they have not paid and that is now processed through executive channels, according to the city council.
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The sauna at Casanova 57, which opens 24 hours a day and where five clients were intoxicated by drugs in March, has been targeted by the same group. On April 18, it was cautiously sealed at the request of the Fire Department and the Urban Police for failing to comply with serious security regulations, although they were later corrected. Its operators assure that parties are not held there, and that the drug was ingested by the affected group. They even denounce homophobic behavior in a representative of the local police, which led to the temporary closure and which they have asked for an investigation