The German officials behind the country’s month-long partial lockdown, during which all restaurants will be closed, are no longer welcome at the ‘Standige Vertretung,’ an iconic Berlin pub catering to the political class.
The owners of the pub voiced their anger over the decision to partially shut down the German economy to slow down the spread of Covid-19. In a video statement on Facebook they said the government has failed to prepare the country for the second wave of the disease, unlike many restaurants, including their own, which have done a lot since April to protect their patrons.
The official numbers say only a small fraction of new infections occurs in restaurants, yet the entire industry, which provides 2.5 million jobs, has been shut down for November, they pleaded.
“It’s known that many politicians come to us as guests. Some of those politicians have decided yesterday to shut down catering businesses again, to ban us from doing our jobs. We are adding those politicians to our black list immediately,” the co-owners, Jorn Peter Brinkmann and Jan Philipp Bubinger, said.
Among the others no longer welcome at ‘Standige Vertretung’ are Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Muller, Minister President of Bavaria Markus Soder and Senator for Health Dilek Kolat. But if Merkel does come to the pub at some point, the owners are willing to talk to her about their grudge, they said.
‘Standige Vertretung’ was established in 1997 by two innkeepers from Bonn. That city had served as capital of West Germany before reunification and still hosts plenty of federal political institutions. The pub was strategically located near the Berlin Friedrichstrasse railway station, which serves westward trains. Its name, meaning ‘Permanent Mission’ alludes to the de facto embassies that the two parts of Germany maintained during the post-war split. The current owners have been running the pub since 2017.
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