Netherlands largest city Amsterdam has banned so called “beer bikes” after years of complaints by local people about rowdy tourists getting drunk and disorderly while pedalling along the city’s famous canals.
The Amsterdam district court ordered that beer bikes - a bar on wheels surrounded by bike seats which tourists pedal along while drinking - can be banned from the city center from Wednesday on. The ruling called the beer bikes a "public order problem", adding: "The combination of traffic disruptions, anti-social behaviour and the busy city centre justifies a ban."
Sebastiaan Meijer, the council’s spokesperson for economic affairs, said that he expects tourists to behave like they do at home. “For a long time our marketing policy was simply aimed at making people come to Amsterdam. Now we want to spread a new message: ‘come to Amsterdam, but please behave’,” he said.
Other cities around the world, which face similar problems with beer bikes, are expected to follow Amsterdam’s example.
