Impatient patrons form makeshift bars on the streets of Budapest

According to the latest coronavirus measures, in Hungary, it is illegal to drink alcohol – or any other drink for that matter – at entertainment and catering establishments. This is self-explanatory and something pretty much every caterer follows, but as many people crave the Friday night parties common before the pandemic, people form makeshift bars on the streets of Budapest.

A popular catering unit called Központ was recently closed for 60 days because it served alcohol for takeaway and drew an unusually large crowd of people during the pandemic. Telex tried to look into the matter and found that Központ is not the only place in Budapest where patrons spontaneously gather.

According to their article, in Buda, Móricz Zsigmond körtér used to be the go-to starting point of every get-together before the pandemic. At about 5 pm, people are already gathering in the square around Alapozó. There is wine, beer, spirits, anything you desire, and after a while, everyone is feeling better than before, but the security guard of the place is bothered by Telex’s reporter, so they move on.

The next place in line was popular even before the pandemic. The reporter recalls having spent quite a few nice nights there, and since the pandemic struck, the catering unit at Erzsébet Square in District V evolved into a kind of drinking place at a field in the middle of the city.

Around the Ferris wheel, several groups of eight to ten teenagers gathered and drank from bottles placed on a nearby public table.

At other points of the area, couples sipped their drinks on the benches nearby. According to the reporter’s findings, the source of the drinks might have been the nearby national tobacco shop on József Attila Street.