With a QR code or negative test in your pocket, you could finally dance to your heart’s content last night. Amsterdam clubs look back with satisfaction on the first night out in ages and the nightlife crowd was also wildly enthusiastic. People are less enthusiastic about the mandatory closing time of 0.00: “I have to put 600 people on the street at the same time.”
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“This is the best evening of my life”, says a visitor to Paradiso euphorically. “It’s great that it’s possible again,” adds another. But when the lights come on at midnight, the reaction is less happy.
Also the pubs still have to close at midnight. And that resulted in a busy Leidseplein in the Center last night. “We’re just going to find an afterparty”, says one partygoer.
Lights on, music off
“Normally everyone goes home at a different time, but now we have to turn on the lights and turn off the music at 00.00 sharp,” says Pieter de Kroon of the Chicago Social Club. “We are on Leidseplein and all other clubs do the same. So it was quite busy outside after midnight.”
Yet De Kroon looks back with a satisfied feeling: “To see the dance floor full of people again after such a long time, that did something to me.”
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Pim Evers of the Koninklijke Horeca Nederland looks back less satisfied. Despite the fact that the malfunction in the CoronaCheck app in Amsterdam appeared to be not too bad, checking was a time-consuming job: “Sometimes an entire group leaves because of one refusal; that decrease in turnover is undesirable in these times.”
Moreover, according to Evers, checking the code led to considerable discussions: “Especially when refusing to visit the toilet. Despite their decision in 2018, the municipality has not really increased the number of public toilets and is therefore still dependent on catering therein,” said Evers. According to him, many foreign codes also did not work.
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