steviedeluxe

It's not Spain! The honour falls to Cyprus with a bar for every 124 inhabitants. Of course Spain is not far behind with a bar for every 128 inhabitants.
Spain also has the highest concentration of cashpoint machines.
I suspect the figures are partly down to the 40-50 million tourists that visit each year, but still..
Interesting article (in Spanish)
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2915...res/habitante/

Pocaloca

The article was written in 2007, before the crisis, so I suppose quite a few bars will have closed since then. But there are still an awful lot!

Do other countries have bars in supermarkets, petrol stations and DIY stores, like Spain does?

steviedeluxe

Well a few supermarkets in the UK have cafeterias, and you're now finding petrol stations that sell coffee and snacks to take away - of course motorway service stations have had eating places for years.

Dick Dasterdly

I came across a report quite a while ago which claimed that Valencia had the highest proportion of bars per person of any City in Europe and from what I saw myself at that time I'd be inclined to believe it was true.

Pocaloca

Yes, but they don't sell alcohol! The licensing laws must be much more relaxed in Spain. You can get a coñac with your coffee at the cafe in our local petrol station!

Rosemary

Also at our swimming pool.

Rosemary

Lynn R

I don't mind how many bars per inhabitant Spain has, as long as the binge drinking culture doesn't catch on here.

Pocaloca

I think you might be too late ...

Our feria lasts a week and is one long binge. I don't know how they have the stamina!

Dick Dasterdly

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/s...ightto-par-tay

Definitely too late.

Lynn R

I feel sorry for the residents living near the sites where the botellones take place, but I've been out and about at night in quite a few Spanish cities now and have yet to see the kind of sights that were commonplace in Manchester city centre (and smaller places as well).

Similarly with our local feria (in a town of 75,000 inhabitants not a tiny village) - there are bars set up all over the place, open until the early hours of the morning, yet I never see groups of people staggering about drunk, or fighting.

Dick Dasterdly

Of course you won't see them in city centres, the cops simply wouldn't allow it.
While they are having success in stopping the bigger ones, the trend is to smaller ones in more out of the way places out of the public eye.

The plus side is they don't bother the general public and are hardly noticed.

The negative factor is there's virtually no supervision or control so kids way below the legal drinking age are getting themselves legless in addition to bother amongst themselves and a hell of a mess left behind.

Lynn R

I have to say I prefer the Spanish way!

Under age drinking has been going on for years, I know I drank far more before I was legally old enough to be served alcohol than I ever have since - mostly because it seems more attractive when it's forbidden, somehow! I was getting served in pubs from the age of 13 onwards, and that's 40 odd years ago. Most of us have the sense to grow out of it, though.

Dick Dasterdly

Out of sight out of mind,eh ?

Fair enough it's not a nice sight in a city centre, but at least if something kicks off the cops can deal with it sharpish and the medical crews soon deal with the idiots who have gone to extremes.

On the other hand when kids as young as 12 are plied with alcohol without any supervision or professional help on hand, I'm not sure it's such a good idea.

I've seen a similar trend in Sweden in recent years.
Kids get legless on imported or illegal alcohol in local parks, leave a hell of a mess behind, then proceed to the footy matches or town centres and cause havoc.

I get the impression they picked the trend up from the Spanish botellones.

HBG

I've seen a few Spanish botellones and have an open mind on why they exist. Spanish kids close to leaving school, or having just left are faced with 50% unemployment, a horrifying prospect.

You can't blame them for seeking some fun with cheap alcohol and drugs among themselves. They seldom cause trouble and the mess they leave behind is much less than the dog shit their elders litter the street with.

They may harm themselves, but I haven't heard of drug or alcohol related deaths arising from their activities. And from what I've heard, they play their music quietly. Ish.

JLFS

Just because you havent heard about any deaths does not mean it hasnt happened.

Here are a few cases of recent stabbings in botellones which resulted in death.


http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/07/...29_602109.html

http://www.antena3.com/programas/esp...032900055.html

http://www.antena3.com/programas/esp...073100062.html

http://www.que.es/ultimas-noticias/e...on-167627.html