Until 2012 a Copenhagen restaurant paid close to DKK 90,000 a year for a mid-sized pavement terrace. Then the fee was scrapped and putting tables outside was free. In late 2023 the city decided to bring a charge back to pay for inspection: roughly DKK 3,000–5,000 a year for a small terrace of about 10 square metres, DKK 12,000–16,000 for a large one.
Now the parties at City Hall have agreed in the 2027 budget to lower it again, weighted by size so the smallest places gain most, with DKK 400,000 set aside to design the new rate structure. The city’s own Megafon survey found 96 per cent of Copenhageners see something positive in living in a city with outdoor serving. What that costs is a question the city has now answered three different ways in fourteen years.
So…:
What are you charging for that you actually want more of?
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