News of: Wednesday, August 05 2009,

Drinking on side walk cafes, while standing, allowed again in Amsterdam

The rules for drinking outside, on out door terraces in the centre of Amsterdam have changed.

Guests are allowed again to stand and drink on outdoor terraces. This was made illegal by the neighbourhood council of Amsterdam Centrum, because when there are too many people, this could become too noisy, or traffic could be blocked.

Smoking outside while standing was no problem, however.

If guests were caught drinking outside, and standing, the cafe owner could get a fine or even loose his license.

A few weeks ago, there was a big protest against the rule, organized by the action group AIAmsterdam (named after Amsterdam's marketing slogan IAmsterdam).
This has apparently been successful.

Drinking while standing is still not allowed outside the official borders of a side-walk cafe.