Prague has banned “unbearable” nighttime pub crawls that have made life in the city a misery for locals. 

The picturesque Czech capital is one of the most visited cities in Europe and many of the tourists come for stag and hen parties. 

Many of them can be quite loud and the City Council has responded by banning night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies. 

“Citizens of Prague have been complaining for a couple of years that it is just physically unbearable to live around the streets and the city centre where most pub crawls happen,” Cllr Adam Zabransky told Lunchtime Live.  

“We don’t have any power with the individual pubs but what we can do is to ban guiding through the night - which is what we did. 

“It will be illegal to provide these services that some companies are providing to the tourists.” 

Men drinking beer. Picture by: Dan Grytsku / Alamy Stock Photo

Travel journalist Ed Finn said Prague has changed dramatically in recent decades. 

Back in the 90s, the Czech capital was “really lovely” but also “so reasonable” in terms of prices. 

Overtime, the clientele has changed. 

“With the explosion of budget airlines, there’s a huge increase in hens and stags,” Mr Finn said. 

“It’s mainly a UK phenomenon and they just tend to get drunk. 

“The mayor said they’re not banning parties but they’re banning organised parties by agencies.” 

Mr Finn described the decision as a “strange one” but said it could help change the type of person who visits the city. 

“They are looking to curb it and have a wealthier tourist [model] but it could backfire,” he said. 

“But it’ll be very hard to implement this as well - are they going to have Czech police going around saying, ‘Are you part of an agency or did you organise this yourself?’

“It’s a headline grabbing policy.”

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Main image: A group of men celebrating a stag party in a bar in Old Town Prague, Czech Republic. Picture by: Alamy.com