In 1976, Peter Alexander — probably the most famous German-language ballad singer of the postwar era — released a song in tribute to his local boozer. He sentimentally invoked a nostalgic popular memory of “the little pub on our street, where life is still worth living.” But not everyone could relate: Alexander received an indignant letter from a schoolteacher, chastising him for glorifying the pub. Life’s meaning, the educator insisted, should be found in more wholesome venues: the church, the theater, or private family life.
These days, the teacher and his ilk can rest easy: the pub the song called a “little piece of home” is a thing of the past. Pubs are disappearing. In Germany’s largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, almost half of all pub owners have thrown in the towel in the last twenty years. In Brandenburg, eastern Germany, the government recently reported that in some districts more than 70 percent of pubs have closed their doors over the last decade. The much-lamented demise of pubs is the talk of the town in Germany and the world over.
But the reasons for the decline are far from self-explanatory. It is true that the COVID-19 pandemic was a disaster for the hospitality industry, and even many pub owners who held on are still paying off aid and loans. That crisis was soon followed by the war in Ukraine, leading to skyrocketing heating, electricity, and food costs — not only for venues but also for their guests, whose tighter budgets meant fewer evenings out.
Thirty years ago, the average German drank 133 liters of beer a year; today, that figure is 88.
Trade associations also bewail high bureaucratic hurdles and staff shortages. Pub owners preparing for retirement often simply cannot find successors. As a consequence, these once vital institutions of community life in villages and urban neighborhoods are rapidly disappearing.
All these problems are tangible and real, but we should not be under the illusion that the small pub on our…
Auteur: Sascha Döring
