City Hall gives a deadline to the owners of cafes and restaurants located at Aghmashenebeli Avenue until August 24 to obtain permits for the use of outdoor spaces. Such a statement made today the Mayor of Tbilisi.

“Some government meetings ago, I spoke about the cafes and bars located in Agmashenebeli Avenue, where it is impossible to walk, as the tables and chairs are set up right in the street. We are not restricting it, just on the contrary. You all remember, what kind of support and cooperation these businesses had from the City Hall during the pandemic, but today it is impossible and categorically unacceptable to continue operating in the same manner. We are giving a reasonable amount of time for you to work it out. The spaces occupied by the outdoor cafes should be reduced on both sides so that people walk freely, and movement is not restricted for pedestrians, ambulance crews, fire brigades, etc.

As far as I can report, only few entities have applied to us wishing to re-organize their spaces and cafe and bar areas what is really very unfavorable. If anyone thinks the things will stay the way they are today, they are mistaken. It is not only you and your employees that matter to us, but also the families who live there and the people who move around the section of that street. Besides, the scene is visually unacceptable. Our architectural service is ready to cooperate. The reasonable deadline we have allowed is expiring. I would like to charge you, the Municipal Inspection, to resolve the architectural aspect of this issue, if you do not receive relevant proposals until August 24. We have to act and put that area to order, because a lot of people are distressed. So much money was spent to implement such a great project for the cultural heritage monuments, while as we all see, the present situation is beyond all criticism”, - said Kakha Kaladze.