How is the nightlife in your hometown?
European nightlife is dead – at least so a lot of people think. NRC International will be examining the true state of affairs in a number of European cities, including Rotterdam, Paris and Belgrade, over the coming days in a series written by our correspondents.
The first instalment, published on Wednesday, deals with parallel grassroots movements in both Amsterdam and Paris. In these cities, revellers have cited the strict enforcement of sometimes petty rules as major buzzkill.
In Amsterdam, the ban on drinking alcoholic beverages standing up drew scorn and ridicule from many. (No, you are not supposed to drink it lying down, sitting in a chair puts you well within the limits of the law.) But the rules, of course, are intended to protect residents from revellers that may get a little bit too boisterous after one too many.
How do you feel about the measures taken in several European cities to make the nightlife safer, but at the same time more boring? Are laws a necessary evil, or do you support the grassroots movements fight the party-averse measures? Do you feel you can still paint the town red or have the restrictions affected you?
Thursday 4 February 2010, 17:49
Nightlife in my town is GREAT. Clubs and bars are concentrated in a relatively small area, so one does not need to walk long distances. On every given night / morning at, let’s say, 05.00 o’ clock there are big crowds of people in the street. We have a wide choice of free jazz and reggae and African music concerts, entrance in clubs and bars is free. People come as far as Barcelona for the nightlife in my town.
I perceive of nightlife in UK as virtually non-existent because bars close up early and in Scandinavia as non-existent.
The name of my town is Groningen and is in the north of the Netherlands. There are around 50.000 young people (students) in the streets looking for a chat and a drink.
Monday 8 February 2010, 23:35
it sucks. Nijmegen is a very dull and boring city. A few pubs all of the same style and no real club anywhere close.
Monday 1 March 2010, 14:07
I study in Groningen. The nightlife is great, lots of places to go. Also, there’s enough musical diversity to fulfill everyone’s taste. Only thing I don’t like is that people only “socialize” with their friends or their friends’ friends, you’ll get weird looks if you start talking to people you don’t know. Well, it’s still fun to go out, just a bit different from many other european cities.