People who are tired of their cell phones already have their own bars. In Helsinki, at least two cocktail bars have implemented the restrictions. The nightclub world is still thinking about what to do.
At least two cocktail bars in the center of Helsinki have restricted the use of mobile phones by their customers.
No cell phones or no photography is part of the business concept of both places.
– I believe that some will come to us because of the _no pictures_ policy. People come because it’s interesting, Bidgood says.
The use of mobile phones in restaurants speaks volumes
In the two bars that Yle interviewed, you cannot covertly photograph anyone, because filming is prohibited.
In the cocktail bar called Chihuahua Julep, the prohibition has been taken to the extreme: you are not allowed to use mobile phones at all.
Yle also didn’t get to film the story in the evening, when there are customers in the place. Photography and cell phones are strictly prohibited. The restaurant has a cabinet where you can put your cell phone while sitting at the bar. If you accidentally or secretly try to look at something on your phone, the staff will come and point out the matter.
There are paper magazines at Chihuahua Julep, and if you need to know something or need help, you can ask the staff or the group sitting next to you.
– If you need to know the bus schedule, you can ask us. The customer can sit still, we go online outside the bar to watch. We are here for customers, says Kettunen.
Restrictions keep the mood going
Like Trillby
Both places have aging classic decor, and both can even be hard to find. One is a so-called sneaker, the other arranges his customers at the door so that there are enough seats for everyone inside.
Neither of them can be entered until the staff comes to open the locked outer door. First, the entrant just has to find the doorbell on the wrong side of the front door. Inside, a peaceful atmosphere awaits you, which is not disturbed by mobile browsing and the blue light of the screen.
Kettunen says that the staff constantly receives good feedback.
– We also have larger groups, stag parties, work groups where not everyone knows each other. They always say they got to know each other better when the phones were gone.
According to Kettusen, couples have also found a place. They come alone without children.
According to restaurateurs, in addition to ordinary, casually dressed locals and tourists, both places are visited by celebrities as well as people in suits and well-dressed.
– People who do important work, who because of their work have to keep the phone open 24/7, have been satisfied with this place, says Kettunen.
He wonders only one thing: why do people need someone else to limit them to put the phone away?
Cellphone bans exist in other parts of the world
According to Bidgood and Kettusen, there are similar bars that limit the use of mobile phones at least in the United States and Europe and in various Asian countries.
They know that in cocktail bars and some English pubs it is common to restrict the use of mobile phones. It belongs to the style of the restaurant: the desire to emphasize the old.
This is also the case in Helsinki. The places meet the standards of the modern world.
– We want to be a secret place that leaves no evidence that you’ve been there, Trillby
Minna Kettunen of Chihuahua Julep says the same.
– Instead of spending your time at the bar taking pictures of drinks and food and only having time to eat them when they are cold and the drinks are spoiled, we enjoy drinking and socializing instead of social media.
In Europe, some nightclubs restrict the use of telephones
In Europe, in addition to bars, there are also nightclubs where cell phones are at least partially prohibited, at least in Germany and Britain.
As far as we know, there is no similar nightclub in Finland that is free of photography or mobile phones.
– It hasn’t even occurred to me. We kind of hope that people take photos in our restaurants and are active on social media. It is in our interest that they tell us where they are and where they had fun, says Pilsari.
He says that he understands the English and German idea behind the ban on cellphones in nightclubs, but that he sees it as very unlikely that the same thing would happen in Finland.
– Watching it would be absolutely impossible.
However, Tyynilä thinks that it could be possible if the restaurant prohibited filming in its own rules of procedure in the same way that it defines its age limit. However, he does not believe that any restaurant can completely ban cell phones.
According to Tyynilä, currently the normal practice in restaurants is to react to filming like any other disturbing behavior. According to him, the problem is not a big one, and it always depends on each customer.
– If a customer finds another customer’s behavior disturbing, the staff should be told about it.
Tyynilä says the same thing as Pilsari: if customers take photos in their restaurants, it’s only beneficial.
– When people describe themselves and their friends, it is also part of marketing.
Cocktail bars rely on word of mouth advertising
In Helsinki’s cocktail bars, marketing is the opposite. The stores do not advertise anywhere, but believe that word of mouth, from friend to friend, is enough. So far, that’s been enough.
Trillby
– They haven’t complained about not being allowed to film either. They understand that secrecy is part of that concept, Bidgood says.
At Chihuahua Julep, too, we trust that the word will only spread. Sometimes, in addition, something has been done.
– We have sometimes sent postcards and taken baskets of goodies and candy to our partners in the neighborhood, Kettunen says.
_What thoughts did the story evoke? You can discuss the topic until Saturday, August 27, until 11 pm._