Restaurant and bar patios in Bucharest’s Old Town reopen next week

The restaurant and bar patios in Bucharest’s Old Town will reopen starting March 15, after being closed during the winter season. This may bring some new action into this popular area of the city, which has been almost deserted in the last four months. About a third of the bars, restaurants, and clubs in Bucharest’s Old Town have closed in the last four months, after the Colectiv club tragedy. The new rules, which were implemented closely after the tragic fire in club Colectiv, don’t allow bars, restaurants, clubs, and shops to operate in high seismic risk buildings. As many of the places were closed, the number of visitors to the Old Town also dropped and on some days this part of the city seemed almost deserted, except for groups of foreign tourists passing by. However, this may change once the warm weather returns and the patios reopen. The Bucharest City Hall has received 63 approval requests for patios in the Old Town and other protected areas in the city, according to Hotnews.ro. The municipality has some rules about the patio size, furniture, and safety, but the restaurant and bar owners in the Old Town haven’t always respected them. editor@romania-insider.com