The ban on alcohol sales in shops between 10pm and 6am has been in force in Wrocław’s Old Town since 2018. On 20 October 2023 the City Council passed a resolution extending it to another eight central districts. These will be: Huby, Nadodrze, Ołbin, Grunwaldzki Square, Powstańców Śląskich, Przedmieście Oławskie, Przedmieście Świdnickie and Szczepin.

While announcing the ban on X (formerly Twitter), the vice-president of Wrocław, Bartłomiej Ciążyński, emphasised that the decision is not aimed at people who drink, but its task is to ensure peace, order and safety for the residents of the districts covered by the regulation. Similar regulations are already in force in Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan, Zakopane and Katowice.

Katowice introduced the first restriction of alcohol sales in shops between 10 pm and 6 am in 2018 in the city centre. Resolutions of the Katowice City Council in subsequent years added the districts of Szopienice-Burowiec and Załęże (from February 2021) and Dąbrówka Mała and Bogucice (from July 2022).

As reported by slaskibiznes.pl, data from the Police and City Guard shows that the restriction is having a tangible effect. In Katowice's city centre, the number of instructions issued by the police to antisocially behaving intoxicated individuals fell by 54% in the first year of the new regulations being in force. 29% fewer people had to be taken to drunk tanks.

Similar effects were observed by the City Guard. In 2017, before the introduction of the restrictions, guards intervened in connection with intoxication 2,043 times, and there were 742 cases of people taken to sobering-up stations or their place of residence. In 2022, the number of such interventions decreased to 1,256 and 514 cases respectively.

Source: money.pl, slaskibiznes.pl