I have been refused entry to a bar in Stockholm. Because of my age. I was 23 at the time. The drinking age in Sweden is 18, and the age at which you can buy alcohol from Systembolaget is 20. But, at the age of 23, I was still refused. I had not been drinking before arriving at the bar, I was not wearing inappropriate clothes (although I was once refused entry to a bar in Stockholm in the middle of the summer for wearing shorts. It was hot out. I wanted to wear shorts. I was not pleased.).

Bars throughout Sweden are allowed to set an arbitrary age limit on their patrons.  It varies, but you’ll find all kinds of age limits. Of course, there are plenty where the age limit is the same as the drinking age limit. It’s not uncommon though to find a bar that requires you to be 23. Or 25. Or even older sometimes.

The idea is of course to keep the clientele of the bar a bit more mature.  To avoid the drunken 18 year olds who make poor choices and drag others into those poor choices. Of course there are plenty of 23 year olds and 25 year olds who make poor choices as well, but I suppose the bar owners are hoping that by putting a few years on you’re also learning a bit of responsibility.

That may be changing though. Not the level of responsibility, but the ability of bar owners to set arbitrary age-limits.  A recent study by the Swedish government is claiming that the age limits are actually a form of age discrimination and that they may need to be done away with.  Bar owners aren’t too pleased with the potential change.

There are other ways to keep people out of bars. Dress codes for example. They are meant to keep the riff-raff out. Riff-raff who wear shorts. Like me.  Or course, it would not have been difficult for me to go home and put on a pair of pants and return to the bar. I didn’t, mostly because I was quite annoyed that I was expected to have pants on in the middle of the summer. I’m a sweaty man. Shorts keep me cool. But I digress.

In the end, I believe the complaints of the bar owners are unnecessary.  While there is the occasional 18 year old who makes a fool out of himself, there is also the occasional 25 year old who does the same. The age limit gives a false sense of maturity.

But what do you think?  Is it necessary to have age limits to keep a certain level of maturity at bars? Should Sweden be working to eliminate this sort of age limit in the name of equality?