Tallinn plans to apply for law amendment limiting open hours of Old Town bars and cafés. The request, majority backed by Old Town Society made up of dwellers therein, stresses their rights to get a good sleep – now disturbed by loud night-life.
Editorial: Tallinn Old Ghost Town
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Other reasons are offered: breaches of public order, too tough for police; «British bachelors’ paradise» party-image and its conflict with a UNESCO cultural heritage site. At the same time, they knowingly avoid the traditions and customs of other European capitals – like the British bachelors’ capital London embracing night life as a vital factor, taking pains to keep the city going.
And it was UNESCO’s very own expert Giorgio Piccinato, visiting Tallinn in 2005 and warning that Tallinn’s in danger of becoming a Disneyland, should life leak out of its heart. A city is no canned food, to be preserved for business or personal interests. It’s a living community with its homes and eating places, kindergartens and recreational establishments. And city centre always serves to prove the presence – or lack – of vital signs. Night life is part and parcel of every city.
Contrasting the image painted by Old Town Society and Tallinn city government, Old Town nightlife is more than drunks easing their bladders into dark corners or hooligans doing their daft stuff. That this is going on quite freely, is not the fault of just the bar-owners, but bad practice by police. As Old Town dwellers well know, police is a rare visitor indeed. Instead of limiting open hours, police – or, perhaps, municipal police – should be reinforced.
The partying bachelor image’s link to opening hours is a weak one. Those walking Old Town streets at dusk, rarely hear songs sung in English. The problem, rather, is the «gentlemen’s clubs». Desiring to change image, let’s start by closing down semi-official brothels.
Tallinn Old Town is a value worth conserving, but not in theme park form.
As the sun goes down, theme parks close their gates. Merry-go-rounds cease to spin; the ghosts take off their white robes and head home for supper. A city, however, keeps on living no matter the night. This is the question: do we want a theme-park-hearted city, a showcase? Or do we opt for a live one? Should we go for the latter, a fact of life has to be accepted – living organisms come with more than rosy cheeks. They do have pimples… to say nothing of corns.