More space for tables and beer benches in public places: Cities in Bavaria allow innkeepers with outdoor gastronomy to permanently increase outdoor areas. This was originally intended to cushion the loss of sales caused by the pandemic – now this is becoming permanent practice.
Bamberg/Munich (dpa/lby) – Bavaria’s cities permanently allow larger outdoor areas. In the warmer half of the year, innkeepers are now allowed to put tables and chairs in areas that used to serve as parking spaces, as several cities announced. A measure that was intended to compensate the innkeepers a little for their losses during the corona pandemic is thus retained.
One example is the Katzenberg in the heart of Bamberg’s old town. It stands for cosiness, beer and mostly hearty food in the middle of a world heritage site. The restaurants at the beginning of the Obere Sandstraße are usually full of tourists, especially in the spring and summer months. When the weather is good, they like to sit outside and enjoy the view of the hustle and bustle around the breweries and pubs and of the cathedral above the Katzenberg.
During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the city allowed some pubs to expand their outdoor serving areas a bit. Three pubs at the foot of the Katzenberg were allowed to place beer benches on areas that had previously served as parking spaces. However, this did not go down well with all residents. Nevertheless, the measure was extended beyond the time of the corona restrictions.
At the end of January this year, the city agreed on a compromise with restaurateurs, the Sand citizens’ association and the Sand interest group: Between May and October, the hosts are allowed to place chairs and tables in six parking spaces as usual. During the Sandkirchweih at the end of August and at flea markets, you have to vacate these spaces. This is according to a decision by the city council.
The expanded outdoor areas will also be retained in Munich. During the pandemic, the city allowed landlords to use parking spaces for outdoor catering – it was the birth of the “Schanigarten”. The expression comes from Vienna and describes small open-air terraces in front of coffee houses there. In Munich, the sidewalk cafés are often delimited by plant pots or wooden fences.
A spokesman for the district administration department (KVR) of the state capital announced that there was a lot of praise for the sidewalk café on the part of the citizens. Therefore, the Munich city council decided in May 2021 to keep them in the months from April to October. Some innkeepers were also allowed to expand their areas laterally, said the KVR spokesman: “Every sidewalk café and every extension of a Freischank area is approved as a special use by the district administration department.”
In Nuremberg, innkeepers were also allowed to expand their outdoor areas during the pandemic, partly in parking lots. “We will continue this generous practice in 2023,” says economics officer Michael Fraas. In 2020 and 2021, the city allowed restaurateurs to expand their outdoor areas in around 300 cases, and around 180 times in 2022. According to Fraas, it is particularly important that escape routes remain free and that there is enough space on sidewalks for wheelchair users, prams or people with walkers.
The larger outdoor areas were also well received in Regensburg during the pandemic and are therefore being approved more generously than before, according to the economics department. In 2023, significantly more free seats are expected in the pubs than in 2019. However, the interests of local residents, fire protection, the need for public benches and aspects of monument protection and Regensburg’s world heritage site will also be taken into account, it is said.
