{"id":551,"date":"2018-03-06T12:58:41","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T11:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christine-madden.com\/?p=551"},"modified":"2018-03-07T13:15:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T12:15:23","slug":"theres-no-place-like-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/theres-no-place-like-home\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s no place like home"},"content":{"rendered":"
Unique, well-loved Munich caf\u00e9 Kaffee Espresso & Barista is shutting down \u2013 another casualty of gentrification<\/h5>\n
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Counter culture: baristas Heike Kahms and Boris Sliskovic at Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

My \u201coffice\u201d is changing hands, and I\u2019m as gutted as the premises will be when they close it down. Strictly speaking, it\u2019s not actually a workplace, but a local and much-loved caf\u00e9. I discovered this place almost seven years ago when I moved into the neighbourhood. It\u2019s not showy or flashy, it doesn\u2019t scream at you with shop-window marketing or streamlined, chichi interiors. Yet it emanates charm, intimacy and welcome. It has style without being stylish, beauty as opposed to fashion.<\/p>\n

Munich is a property hotspot. Crushing difficulty in finding accommodation has become the norm. This situation has existed for decades, getting more difficult by the hour. But while German law protects private individuals regarding their rental contracts, no such protection is on the books for small businesses. This is what happened to the owner and proprietor of Kaffee Espresso & Barista<\/a>, Thomas Leeb. Without any warning, he was unable to renew his lease, and he\u2019ll have to move out of his establishment. After 15 years as a fixture of the local community of Neuhausen (centre-west Munich), the caf\u00e9 will cease to exist.<\/p>\n

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Interior of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived here for 10 years, this is my local caf\u00e9,\u201d says patron Christine Knesebeck, who visits almost daily with her dog Tonio. \u201cIt has a special atmosphere. There\u2019s nothing like it. It should actually have protected status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaffee Espresso & Barista \u2013 which has the name Caf\u00e9 Hausbrandt over its door \u2013 could be seen as a work of art; \u201cpeople experience it that way,\u201d says Leeb. \u201cIt\u2019s a meeting place with many faces. We grant ourselves leave to express our individuality.\u201d The caf\u00e9 \u2013 which is, he says, a shop that serves coffee \u2013 is unique in several respects. The concept behind it combines a display and sales point for espresso machines, their accessories and the quality coffee to prepare in them. The same coffee is also prepared for customers who want to step into a mini, caf\u00e9-sized wormhole to a relaxed, 360-degree, full-sensory experience of another, more romantic time and space. Vintage posters from early 1900 onwards cover most of the wall space. Plush leather couches and rattan chairs surround polished stone and mosaic tables in intimate clusters. Lit shelves scattered throughout the caf\u00e9 groan with different kinds of coffee, cups, coffee pots and espresso machines and a wide array of their accompanying paraphernalia. Leeb even lavishes attention on the choice of music, which ranges from French chansons and Latin rhythms to quirky Italian songs. Boxing this place up won\u2019t just be a gargantuan task \u2013 it\u2019s the vivisection of a social ecosystem.<\/p>\n

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Street view of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

The district council is able to intervene to protect the atmosphere of its locality, but only concerning the sale of a building. In a case such as this, unfortunately, its hands are tied. Local government can do nothing to prevent the demise of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. \u201cAn appeal could be started,\u201d says Anna Hanusch, the chair of Munich\u2019s ninth district, where the caf\u00e9 is located, \u201cbut ultimately the lessor has this right.\u201d Although German law bestows certain protections on private tenants, small businesses and their owners have no such security. It would be necessary, acknowledges Hanusch, to change the law on a national level. As she also lives in the area, she says, \u201cthe caf\u00e9 is a real institution, it\u2019s a great shame\u201d that it will close.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses have no protection whatsoever,\u201d Leeb states. \u201cThat goes for rent increases and lease cancellation. Rents can be doubled. It\u2019s called the free market.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Corner wall, Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

The lessor of the premises apparently has another patron lined up for the space \u2013 who will be putting a caf\u00e9 in it, quelle surprise. But whether someone can also put an equivalent atmosphere in the space is doubtful. This is a neighbourhood caf\u00e9, and the locals who frequent it feel a strong sense of ownership \u2013 and great regret to see it vanish. Many people come here in the mornings for their coffee, sandwiches and pastries \u2013 takeaway or not \u2013 meeting and greeting one another as you would at your local pub. Patrons come and go throughout the day, in groups or alone, to work or hold meetings or to have a chat or just a moment\u2019s respite with a coffee and a bun in an atmosphere described by barista Heike Kahms as \u201can Italian living room\u201d. Shutting this down is gentrification without gentility.<\/p>\n

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Interior of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

Leeb is actively searching for a new premises in the immediate area \u2013 which he acknowledges will be no easy task. In the meantime, Kaffee Espresso & Barista will close its doors to many desolate customers while he and his team box up the interior, which in its comfort and style emanates a certain, diva-like dignity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding owners could decide to leave a caf\u00e9 and not throw people out on the street,\u201d laments Knesebeck. \u201cI will miss this caf\u00e9 very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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  • Do you frequent this caf\u00e9 and will miss it? Or do you mourn the loss of a beloved local fixture in your neighbourhood? We’d love to hear from you!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    Bar area of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

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    A peek into the back office at Kaffee Espresso & Barista<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Interior of Kaffee Espresso & Barista. Photograph: Christine Madden<\/p><\/div>\n

     <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Unique, well-loved Munich caf\u00e9 Kaffee Espresso & Barista is shutting down \u2013 another casualty of gentrification My \u201coffice\u201d is changing hands, and I\u2019m as gutted as the premises will be when they close it down. Strictly speaking, it\u2019s not actually a workplace, but a local and much-loved caf\u00e9. I discovered this place almost seven years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[71,72,80,79,11,6,78,77,73,74,75,76],"class_list":["post-551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-cafe","tag-cafe-culture","tag-coffee","tag-gentrification","tag-munchen","tag-munich","tag-neighborhood","tag-neighbourhood","tag-neuhausen","tag-property","tag-property-law","tag-rental-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551\/revisions\/569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christine-madden.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}