Munich, Germany, home to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest beer festival, has opened a brand-new biergarten, with a difference. The atmosphere of the addition to the city’s collection of quintessentially Bavarian drinkeries aims to follow tradition, offering clientele a social get-together under shady trees on a square near the Botanical Gardens. But unlike at other biergartens, there will be no beer on the menu.
Zero hour is here
Die Null, on Karl-Stützel-Platz near Munich Central Station, was inaugurated on 18 July 2024 by city mayor, Dieter Reiter. The pop-up will run until 15 September 2024, closing just before the start of Oktoberfest. It serves non-alcoholic beverages only, appealing to the increasing number of Germans steering clear of booze, and as part of the municipal rehabilitation of a formerly seedy area.
The name of the new bar, Die Null, translates to “The Zero” – a reference both to its 0%-alcohol drinks menu and a play on the German phrase “Zero Hour”, which refers to the end of Nazi power in Germany and a radical break with the past. It seems as though German drinkers are doing just that, and have been for some time.
Reflecting the rest of Europe, beer sales across Germany fell by 4.2% in 2023, the latest data point in a 30-year trend showing declining sales that are now 25.3% lower than they were three decades ago. Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland each now consume more beer each year than Germany.
Urban transformation
As well as tapping into changing drinking habits, the bar’s no-alcohol policy is designed to help clean up the Karl-Stützel-Platz neighbourhood’s reputation as a hub for vagrancy and drugdealing. The square’s unkempt appearance has already been tidied up, with foliage pruned back and better lighting. Meanwhile former infrastructure, such as table tennis tables and benches that were reportedly being used for rough sleeping and drug dealing, has been removed in what is being dubbed an “upgrade” to the area.
Other local businesses who had previously complained about problem behaviour in the surroundings have welcomed the moves. In addition to smartening the square up, the project is set to turn it from an anti-social axis into a cultural magnet by providing a venue for bands and audiences for free live gigs and other performances. Bringing one’s own food will be permitted and the bar will serve soft drinks, mocktails, juices, water and non-alcoholic beers.
While Die Null looks likely to please Gen Z’s growing number of T-totallers, there is at least one person who seems a little unconvinced by the concept – owner and one of the financial backers of the bar, Florian Schönhofer, who told Die Zeit that people do not order ten fruit juices per night, in the same way that some order ten beers, so “we’ll probably make a loss”.
