The Municipality of Athens has announced they are set to restrict noise in the central neighbourhood of Kolonaki by limiting the hours cafes, bars and restaurants can play loud music, following dozens of complaints and lawsuits by local residents.
According to the municipality, the decision which was made during a council meeting, requires bars and cafes to turn off the music at midnight on weekdays and Sundays and at 1am in the morning on Fridays, on Saturdays and on the eve of public holidays.
It is reported that this decision "does not concern the opening hours of bars and restaurants in general, but the hours when music can be played".
In 2017, more than 70 businesses in Kolonaki submitted a request to extend the hours for playing music, the municipality said, while it is estimated that 60 percent of businesses "didn't even bother" to ask for an extension, although they violated the legal hours.
According to a police order from 1996, bars, cafes and restaurants must stop the music at 10pm in the winter and at 11pm in the summer, based on the common "quiet hours".
