Public drinking has aroused long-lasting debates in St. Petersburg/Leningrad and Helsinki. Taverns, pubs, restaurants but also streets and parks as well as workplaces in the city have been the main arenas of public drinking. My central concern is the impact of policy and police regimes on public drinking. The state was heavily involved in controlling public drinking in both cities; it simultaneously monopolized and regulated the alcohol trade and condemned drunkenness. The suppression of public drinking places was common for both cities. Still, the high number of arrests for public drunkenness in open spaces and the growth of total consumption indicate that drinkers moved to open urban spaces or to private places. Police control of the public spaces and the weakening role of the licensed drinking facilities as a place for neighborhood clientele affected the sociability of drinking and the uses of public space in general.
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