Some restaurants have set up sections with tables and chairs on the other side of the sidewalk or road, but a guest is not allowed to carry their own beer across a sidewalk or street that crosses the outdoor dining area. For a guest to handle their alcohol, they must be within the restaurant's serving license area. According to Annika Landfors, head of the permit unit in Lund, it is a necessary condition for a business to be allowed to open a surrounding outdoor dining area not connected to the facade without violating the alcohol law.
The purpose is for staff to keep an eye on the guest and know where the alcohol is located. Under Chapter 8, Section 14, first paragraph of the alcohol law, a serving license must refer to a certain delimited space, such as an outdoor dining area adjacent to the serving establishment. An outdoor dining area must be adjacent to the serving establishment and be possible to oversee.
If the outdoor dining area is separated from the serving establishment's facade by a pedestrian or bicycle path or a street, a permit for outdoor dining can still be granted provided there is a serving station in the outdoor dining area staffed with serving personnel during the entire serving time. In some special cases where the risk of inconvenience is assessed to be small, a permit for outdoor dining can be granted even if the serving cannot be overseen from inside the serving establishment and even if there is no staffed serving station. In these cases, the permit for outdoor dining is combined with conditions for table service.