This week, two municipal police officers and an urban planning inspector from the Murcia City Council reported the cessation of activity in the Koala and Golden nightclubs and in the Spectrum concert hall, which was sealed for lacking a license. The inspections were carried out after the City Council admitted that there are more establishments that are subject to a closure order, but that incomprehensibly continue to operate.
The tragedy just a week ago at the F Onda Milagros nightclub, in which 13 people died, revealed the administrative chaos and apathy that businessmen took advantage of to keep their businesses open. Fires do not know about licenses but they do know about inspections that try precisely to verify that everything is in order in case there is an accident.
The question is obligatory. And what in Barcelona? This week La Vanguardia asked those responsible for the City Council for a list of the nightclubs and nightclubs in the city and the details of the inspection activity carried out at three levels by the technicians of each of the ten districts, the Urban Police and the Barcelona firefighters. Inspections that are sometimes also joined by the Mossos d'Esquadra, the National Police and personnel from the Labor Delegation to verify that employees have the documentation and contracts in order.
In the city there are 113 nightclubs or party rooms that, before raising the shutters, had to go through numerous inspections that confirmed that they met the requirements to open. In terms of safety, the regulations for shows and recreational activities establish a series of conditions. An example, that the activity is limited to a single floor, without continuity in rooms. In addition, they must meet the requirements of the municipal ordinance on public activities and establishments and comply with the technical building code. It should be added that each of the nightclubs conforms to the regulations of the use plan of the respective district.
Before obtaining this license, technicians, urban guards and city firefighters have to approve each of the requirements. It is at that moment when the most important of the inspections is carried out.
In terms of fire prevention, a former head of the Barcelona Fire Department reminds this newspaper how during the inspection the material, which can only be fireproof, in the entire room is taken into account. From curtains to any carpet or decoration material. They must have a marked evacuation plan with emergency plans that staff must know.
And once the premises are open and operating, are they inspected? According to data provided by the City Council, all nightclubs in the city are inspected at least once a year. Surprise visits during the night, or arranged, which can be carried out either randomly or based on a complaint or indications of disparate origin.
Fede Sardà is one of the owners, director and soul of Luz de Gas, a classic of the Barcelona nightlife. It opened its doors in 1995, preserving the space of the old Belle Époque cabaret theater. Do you receive an inspection a year? "A? At least four and I'm not complaining, on the contrary, we are delighted that they come as many times as necessary because we always learn,” he says. The businessman explains that there is not a year in which he does not receive, by surprise and without warning, a visit from the city firefighters, urban guards or district inspectors.
“They double check that the emergency exits are enabled and clear of obstacles; that the evacuation routes are perfectly signposted, the fire extinguishers approved and reviewed, and that there has been no incorporation of any new material that is not fireproof in the decoration,” he details.
“There can always be an accident, always, but in our house we will have done everything in our power to minimize the consequences if there is one and to act diligently,” explains Sardà.
Luz de Gas is one of the many rooms that does not allow the use of flares or so-called cold ice inside. A classic in many nightclubs, they decorate the bottles served in the booths with sparklers. “The problem is not the flares. The important thing is that the material of that reserved. The sofas, the carpet if there is one, the curtains if they exist, are made of an absolutely fireproof material that prevents the spread of a fire,” assures a fire technician.
Since 2019, Barcelona City Council carried out 632 technical inspections in nightclubs, the vast majority of which were also attended by urban guards. These surprise visits, from ten at night to five in the morning, that is, with the room open and with the public, had the objective of verifying compliance with the technical conditions of the premises, mainly everything that has to do with the regulations against fires, evacuation routes, protection elements and emergency doors; in addition to those derived from noise regulations.
The firefighters from the prevention area carried out another 108 inspections in establishments with a capacity of more than 500 people, of which 22 were discos and party venues. Not to mention that in the days prior to the New Year's Eve festivities and the Sant Joan festival, checks are also carried out in many of the venues that celebrate parties on those two nights.
In addition to this inspection work, each of the districts is responsible for keeping the licensing situation of the nightclubs in their area up to date. Hence, the municipal sources consulted categorically affirm the impossibility of a venue, a nightclub, operating in the city of Barcelona today, with a closure order or without a license. “It's impossible,” they say.
The last two nightclubs that were closed were the Arena Chicas, for a limited period after a sanction for excess capacity, and the Brisas del Caribe. The controversial Latin nightclub at Paral·lel accumulated countless sanctioning files but linked to criminal activity within it. It finally closed its doors in February, after the Sants-Montjuïc district included the plot of land it was on in the neighborhood improvement plan. In less than 24 hours the cranes finished with it and its long conflictive history inside and outside its walls.
Safety in terms of fire prevention will be the focus of the international nightlife congress to be held in Barcelona at the end of November.
