Barcelona gets new alcohol measures to curb British binges

Barcelona, a popular tourist spot in Spain with Brits, has said it will ban promotional offers, more commonly given out during happy hour, in order to try an curb excessive drinking done by young Brits on holiday. The city’s officials have said that they hope banning ladies nights, two-for-one promotional sales, and other alcohol related deals will encourage youths to binge drink less often.

The ban will come into effect almost immediately over the next few weeks and is part of a larger health bill which is being designed to oust the inebriated tourists which currently plague the city of Catalan. According to locals young British men and women have begun to descend on the city for holidays and walk around in the evening hours in various degrees of intoxication.

The most offending area is the Rambla boulevard near the city’s centre. The tree-lined boulevard becomes a haven for late night tourists enjoying too much to drink, and has become a bit of a hazardous situation. Many tourists have fallen victim to petty theft and crimes as they wander the street in a drunken state.

As the ban goes into affect, bars found in noncompliance with the new rules will be fined up to €6,000. Those facilities that become repeat offenders will be forced to close down entirely. The Spanish government has constructed a special task force which will tour the bars to ensure that the ban is being enforced properly.

Trinidad Jimenez, the Spanish Health Minister, has said that the measure will be a positive impact on the community and that further measures are being considered within the new national health bill to remedy the current situation.