Mayor wants to ban kiosk alcohol sales in Copenhagen nightlife zones after 8 pm

Frank Jensen continuing his war against antisocial parties in the park and other rowdy behaviour

Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen is getting kind of cranky due to all the sleep he is losing!

Those pesky kids near his plush pad in Islands Brygge have been keeping him up until the early hours with their infernal racket, and he really has had enough this time!

Back in early August, he told the police to crack down on parties in the park, but that hasn’t really worked, and now he’s targeting that most Danish holy of holies: 24-hour alcohol sales.

Copenhagen’s very own Prohibition?
The Danish capital, famous for its laid-back attitude to drinking in the street and buying breakfast beers, is about to stage its very own version of Prohibition … exactly a century on from the US version. 

Jensen is proposing a ban on the sale of alcohol in retail outlets in 20 selected “nightlife zones” around Copenhagen, and he has passed on his recommendation to the minister of justice, Nick Hækkerup.

However, it isn’t that draconian by Copenhagen standards. Before 2005, sales of beverages with an alcohol content of over 2.8 percent were forbidden between 20:00 and 06:00, even though the rules were ignored by many kiosks.

More fines for littering and loud music
Meanwhile, another proposal hopes to give municipal employees (such as park staff) the authority to issue fines for violating local rules of order.

For example, this could be for littering or playing the kind of loud music that has been keeping Jensen up at night.

In the immortal words of the Beatles, all together now: “It’s been a hard few nights, and Frank hasn’t been sleeping like a log.”