To be honest, there was a lot I disliked about Bar 25: the horrible circus aesthetics; the way it mutated from a beach bar with a few crates of beer into a high security compound for the Easyjetset; the way they would protest for “Spreeufer für Alle” in the daytime and on the same night enforce the most exclusive door policy in the city; the way they built an “African” shantytown called Johannesburg 24 in order to prominently display an Adidas logo, and, finally, how they blacklisted our nightlife writer for pointing out these things – how fucking petty!
But that’s all forgotten, because Kater Holzig (as we all know, run by some of the former Bar 25 people) and the investors they have gathered around them, known as the Holzmarkt collective, have as of this evening signed the contract for the former Bar 25 plot.
When you see the architectural horrors sprouting up down the street around the O2 World (another giant mall, a Daimler Benz office block), you have to welcome anything that offers an alternative to corporate development of the riverbank. The collective – if they are able to realise their vision – will be much more than a giant wacky beach bar and a more open, inclusive concept than Bar25 ever was. There will of course be a club, but also a theatre, a kindergarten, a cinema, a park, a “village” with independent shops, a start-up centre, even rooftop agriculture… all conceived in the spirit of creativity and sustainability. Who can argue with that?
