Breaking news about midnight closing time in Budapest’s party district!

Last Sunday, within the framework of an extraordinary meeting, District 7’s City Council decided about the future of the party district. According to the decision, midnight closing hours will not be introduced yet; however, a new system of criteria will be set with the purpose of controlling opening hours in the future.

As Hungarian news portal 24.hu reports, the future of the party district has been a problematic issue for more than two years. Since 2017, the majority of residents have been fighting with the local council to decrease the damages caused by night clubs and even oblige them to close at midnight. The former mayor, Zsolt Vattamány, tried to resolve the question of midnight closing hours by a referendum, but the results were invalid. Let’s summarise what happened since then.

After this year’s municipal elections in October, the mayor’s chair has been occupied by Péter Niedermüller, while Dóra Garai, the representative of Livable Elizabeth City Facebook group, also became a member of the council. Garai’s civil community had been supporting the proposal of midnight closing time since 2013 and requested the introduction of the regulation by January 2020. This proposal was eventually voted down by the board.

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On 25 November, another proposal dealt with the subject; however, this one was accepted by the board. It also urges the solution that supports midnight closing time, but the party district would not be immediately affected.

As a result, in the next few months, a technical committee will be set up involving representatives of the council (three of them from District 7’s city centre), the police, security services, civil organisations, and restaurant operators. An objective system of criteria will be set up with the purpose of controlling opening hours in the future.