Spain’s famous nightlife set to be very different in ‘new normal’

PAST MEMORY: Scenes of tightly packed dance floors are unlikely for some time CREDIT: es.m.wikipedia.org Percy Meza

SPAIN’S famously vibrant nightlife is set to take on a very different character in the new coronavirus risk normal.

Discos, pubs, bars and concert halls will be allowed to reopen under Phase three of the lockdown de-escalation. Spain’s party island Ibiza, along with holiday favourites Mallorca, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, will almost certainly have moved into this stage by the second week of June. But scenes of revellers jostling for drinks and tightly packed dance floors are likely to be just a memory for some months at least.

Spanish press report that the ICTE Institute for Spanish Tourist Quality is currently drawing up a Covid-19 risk prevention protocol for nightlife venues which will mean crowds are out and social distancing is in.

The protocol, which will have to be approved by the Health Ministry, will inevitably reduce the number of people allowed in each establishment and make it necessary to take steps to ensure customers stay a safe distance away from each other, with tape and markings on the floor.

Face masks will be an obligatory accessory for employees and customers.

Also expected is a requirement for venues to have contact-less thermometers to take people’s temperatures before they are allowed in and an obligation to put up screens at box offices.

Drinks will probably have to be served in either disposable glasses or washed at a temperature of above 80ºC.

Customers will be encouraged to pay electronically, and the payment terminal will have to be disinfected every time it is used.

Hygiene and disinfection will be a central part of the protocol, with particular focus on areas people are most like to touch, like doors and counters.

There is also likely to be a limit on the maximum number of people allowed in lavatories, while disinfectant solution will have to be made available for customer use.

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Cathy Elelman

Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.

Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.

Her top goals are to do the best job she can informing the local English-speaking community, visitors to the area and the wider world about about the news in Almeria, to learn something new every day, and to embrace very new challenge this fast-changing world brings her way.

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