Prague ban pub crawls: European city banning bar crawls slammed as 'desperate' - and will 'do nothing' to deter stag and hen dos

The city of Prague, long regarded as a stag and hen party hotspot, recently announced a ban on organised pub crawls from 10pm until 6am in a bid to cut noise pollution and anti-social behaviour. The city’s deputy mayor, Zdenek Hrib, announced the ban on Monday (14 October).

Pub crawls have been banned at night by city councillors aiming to attract “more cultured” tourists to the Czech capital. Simon Old, Prague Specialist for two of the UK’s leading stag and hen party providers, StagWeb.co.uk and GoHen.com slammed the ban, saying: “It’s a bit of a half-hearted ban to stop pub crawls from 10 pm. Whilst they’re well within their rights to try and curb anti-social behaviour, people will just do their own pub crawls or do them earlier on.

“Being a destination that has profited for years on its reputation for being a bit of a party city, it seems like they’re trying to have their cake and eat it with this. I don’t think it will deter stags and hens from heading to Prague at all.”

Amsterdam is another European city that tried to change its image as a party destination with its “Stay Away” campaign last year. However, according to StagWeb and GoHen’s Creative Director, this had no impact on stag and hen enquiries for the Dutch capital.

He said: “The Prague situation is similar to Amsterdam. There was a lot of news coverage last year about Amsterdam looking to clean up its act, but, according to our stats, it had no impact whatsoever. However, whereas Amsterdam were almost looking for a blanket ban, Prague are at least trying to find a balance so everyone can enjoy the city.

Matt Mavir, who runs the UK’s leading stag and hen do organiser, Last Night of Freedom, also believes the latest ban is a “desperate tactic” that simply will not work. He said: “Over-zealous policies like these are designed to create headlines but in reality, they won’t make a dent in the number of stag groups in Britain who want to visit cities like Prague. The city council’s proposal to ban fancy dress earlier this year has done nothing to deter visitor numbers because they are unworkable and frankly, a bit embarrassing.

“Banning organised pub crawls will not stop people enjoying the fantastic beer in Prague, and under the terms of this ban, what’s to stop guides from just running them during the day? That would only lead to more people drinking earlier and affecting the businesses, locals and wealthier tourists they say this ban is trying to protect.”