Prague is reducing the area of restaurant gardens
At first, they tried to slow down the dismissal at the municipality, and several people face allegations of corruption. Another has been shouting since April, when the city council approved the procedure, ie the termination and conclusion of a new contract for a new area or location.
They interpellated at the council several times, but did not march. “The idea of terminating the contract of most operators of front gardens and outdoor sales is such a socialist intention, according to which business is evil and the city will have the best as empty as under the communists,” read the councilor of the restaurant on the Little Market Dana Křivánková Lisánková.
The center remains empty. The city follows its year-old Manual for Cultivated Prague, whose main goal is to remove visual smog and barriers in the city center. “It is not that we want the entities to terminate without compensation, but to conclude a new lease agreement with these entities,” explained councilor Jan Chabr (United Forces, TOP 09).
“We suddenly did not want to reduce the area and order new furniture,” Kristýna Drápalová, who is in charge of the issue, told Práva. The furniture can remain if it suits the previous residences of conservationists.
According to her, the location of the garden was solved on Příkopa and on 28th October Street. While Na Příkopě should be newly in a strip of trees, in the adjacent street on October 28 at the facades of houses, similar to the Republic Square. According to the city, this seems to be the most natural in the place, and most restaurateurs chose such a location themselves.
The most problematic before the pandemic was the narrow Charles Street in the Old Town. Waiters running to the large gardens got in the way of the crowds of tourists from Charles Bridge. The gardens in Karlova Street are probably severely restricted.
According to Drápal, the city has not yet sent out all the statements that resulted from the councilors’ decisions. It tried to take into account some comments from the local chamber of commerce and the Poho restaurant association. The matter was also discussed with representatives of Prague 1, which probably also monitors its own activity towards the gardens.
“We discussed it in detail with Prague 1,” added Drápalová.