Hordes and Gangs

Several clubs pointed it out to us that it wasn’t fair if we’re only so critical when it comes to them, we should spare some thought for the night club loving tourists visiting our country too. So we did go and investigate why this was such an important topic, but it didn’t take a lot of time and legwork to create this article.

Looking back at the ‘90s, every bar owner feels a sense of nostalgia. That’s because money was poured into the country endlessly through industrial developments, trade and tourism. Joint ventures were mushrooming, there were almost more Italian-Hungarian companies than purely Hungarian ones. All Western European companies had a branch in Hungary, we were the favourites, the Hong Kong of Central Europe. This incredible development naturally brought many foreign businessmen with it, who either settled in Budapest or came here weekly or monthly, spending a few days or maybe weeks in the country. I remember how 15-17 years ago in downtown Budapest there were almost as many cars from abroad on the streets as Hungarian ones. No wonder, because due to the relatively developed infrastructure and legal/economic regulatory system and to the extremely low taxes, rents and wages it was very profitable to operate a company here. That was the situation then.
What’s described above together with the Hungarians’ openness, sexual freedom and hunger for money quickly got club life on its feet, the first brothels and nightclubs were opened, mainly for foreigners. Each club had its regular visitors and let’s not forget that Hungary wasn’t a member of the European Union yet, therefore the majority of beautiful girls wanted to earn money here at home. So there was no shortage of girls, neither of customers. Most of the customers were businessmen who did nothing but continued from where they had left off in one of the developed countries, they were spending money on hookers and the like. Some clubs were simply impossible to get into, and as many as 30-40 girls worked there each night. You practically had to queue if you wanted a girl, because there was more demand than supply and money didn’t matter. There was enough for everything in the budgets of the joint ventures. The Hungarian laws of that time for example allowed cars to be contributed into an Ltd, after which all the costs of the vehicle were tax deductable. So were all costs of representation and nobody cared about the numbers, the companies were spending through the nose. Good times they were indeed, many bar owners got rich with minimal investment and skills, many of them made a fortune.

But, like everything, this also had to end at one point. Due to the known reasons explained in the other articles, soon Hungary wasn’t that popular destination visited by so many tourists and businessmen anymore. Joint ventures were closed or moved to the Far East, economic growth slowed down, which was followed by the recession, which also hit tourism awfully hard. The signs of this have become visible directly in the club life of Budapest, for example in the kind of foreigners who still come to the capital. There are hardly any businessmen anymore, and should one end up in a club, bar managers say they are the ones who spend the least. Italians have also fallen out of love with Budapest. They’ve never been famous for being big spenders, but what they are doing now is beyond words. They are said to abuse the free car services of the clubs by ordering a ride, taking it to the city centre and when they are there, they run away. Like this they can save the taxi cost of HUF 2-3000, equalling about € 10, which is hardly exorbitant. Others try to save money on drinks. There are people who will sit there in their trainers by a soft drink, telling all girls to go away, but watching the show, taking up the place of others. Some ask for only one beer for two persons, because they think it would be too expensive to get two. There are two clubs in Budapest where for 20 Euros you can drink all you want, plus you get free entrance and a free car ride to the club. It is from them that we heard that some find even that too much, and there was once someone who opted to buy a bottle of wine in the supermarket, take it to the club with him and drink it there instead of paying. The most outrageous example is from a bar where customers get a drink voucher of fifty Euros for free when they enter. This guy drank one beer, was there for only an hour, sent all the girls away, but then decided that since he only drank for 10 Euros he wanted the rest, 40 Euros in cash. He received a taxi ride for free, got free entrance and a free drink, but still he insisted he also got paid. Incredible...Who would have the nerve to do this in the West? ? ?
So, the clubs of Budapest might still have a lot to learn and a long way to go, but change has started and you can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel. But the coin obviously has another side to it as well, and that’s the customers. On the basis of the above it’s clear that nowadays they’re not at their best either. We hope that as the clubs keep getting better and better, this will attract customers of a different kind as well. We also hope that it won’t be only hordes of penniless, shabby men who are not satisfied with anything that visit these places. We hope change is around the corner and I can feel that there are many clubs who are not only hoping but are acting too. I think it’s high time for a different kind of tourist to start coming to enjoy erotic entertainment in Hungary so that it’s not only the nastiest kind of people we get over here.

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Well, I have one thing to add to this article and that's the story when I was in a really beautiful downtown club back in April, and this group of 5 or 6 six men entered, who after half an hour were so drunk they didn't know what they were doing and their behaviour was downright obscene. If I'm not mistaken they weren't English but Swiss. They were molesting all the girls, even the ones who were busy entertaining someone and they were generally causing disturbance to everyone there. They wanted to take all of the girls to their hotel, they kept hollering about how they wanted sex because that was what they went there for, and they were astonished the manager wouldn't have any of that. Eventually they had to be shown the door by the bouncers, which almost led to a fight, but in the end they left. Afterwards I heard that somehow one of them managed to steal a shoe off one of the dancers and it took ages to get it back from them. I wonder how often these clubs have to deal with people like this, but it obviously must take a lot of patience.

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