After Years of Illegal Use: Famous Prague Brothel Showpark Relocates
As early as 2019, a court had legally ordered the clearance of Hall 18 in the Holešovice market area
After years of legal disputes, the illegal use of Hall 18 in the Holešovice market area is coming to an end. The well-known Prague brothel Showpark is leaving the site before the scheduled forced eviction and relocating to a new location.
After years of court proceedings and repeated delays, the City of Prague has reached a resolution in the dispute over the illegal use of Hall 18 in the Holešovická tržnice area. The operator of the brothel Showpark, the company E.R.O.C., announced that it would vacate the municipal premises before the scheduled eviction date and move to new premises outside the market grounds.
As early as 2019, a court had legally ordered the clearance of the hall. Nevertheless, the company managed to delay the implementation of the decision for almost six years through further legal action. Only after the bailiff announced that a forced eviction would take place without further delay on 27 January 2026 did the case begin to move forward.
The new erotic club will open in the immediate vicinity of one of Prague’s busiest metro stations, I. P. Pavlova, on Na Bojišti Street. The company already had a branch there before the Covid pandemic.
Prague Councillor for Municipal Property Adam Zábranský welcomed the decision. He stated that the erotic club in Hall 18 had placed a considerable strain on the development of the Holešovická tržnice. The property is part of an old stock dating from the time of the previous operator, who signed a 50-year lease in 1995. The legal dispute had dragged on since 2012—due in no small part to delay tactics by the other party and the slow pace of the judiciary. Now, the end of a more than ten-year conflict is in sight.
The site is managed by the municipal company Výstaviště Praha. Its chairman, Tomáš Hübl, pointed out that E.R.O.C. had used the hall without a valid contract and had therefore paid no rent. For this reason, the city claimed lost income, amounting to around seven million crowns per year. These funds were now missing for the further development of the site.
After the brothel vacates, the structural condition of the hall will first be thoroughly assessed. The building has not been properly maintained for years. According to Hübl, future use will depend on the extent of the required renovations and the city’s financial capabilities. In the long term, a combination of office and retail space as well as a police station is planned. The necessary investment could exceed 200 million crowns, with renovation taking several years. In the interim, the premises could be used, for example, as studios or workshops.
