Nightclub manager: "We feel we are back again"

After several club organizers in recent weeks have been alerted to congestion on the dance floor, the government announced on Thursday that nightclubs with more than 50 people will no longer be allowed.

The organizer who violates the new provision risks punishment.

Another proposal - which will first be submitted for consultation - is that the rules for restaurants be tightened to allow a maximum of eight people to sit together in a party.

- We feel that we are going back again with these new restrictions, says Johan Däldehög who works as a nightclub manager in Gothenburg.

"We have no dance floors"

He hopes that the clubs he runs will be able to live on, despite the tightening of rules.

However, this presupposes that the activities are not affected by the limit of a maximum of 50 people.

- We do not have dance floors as we interpret it, but we have seated serving that is more reminiscent of restaurant serving.

This is how we have been working since the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

However, he admits that there is a risk that the clubs may, after all, be judged more harshly - which in that case would force them to close.

- If this ends up in us not being allowed to take in more than 50 people, we will have to shut down and the staff will unfortunately be unemployed, he says.

Frustrating that rules are not complied with

Johan Däldehög says that he understands that the authorities are taking measures to keep the spread of infection down, but expresses disappointment that there are organizers who have not succeeded in following the rules.

- We have been working with open nightclubs since June.

It has been tough, we have worked with the environment and health, rebuilt, and then there are others who can not handle it, it is frustrating, he says.

The underground scene is growing

Gabriella Ekman works as a DJ and explains that she has been hit hard by the pandemic.

- I have had to pause my company, there are no jobs, she says.

How to best handle the situation, however, is difficult to answer, she admits.

- That is "the million dollar question".

What is clear, however, is that nightclub life does not stop just because the rules are tightened.

- The underground scene has become very widespread.

You find alternative ways to club, for better or worse, says Gabriella Ekman.