Beachbars: ‘Out of Town’ in Town

 
Long gone are the times when it was only possible to feel coastal sand under your feet on holiday. Today, more and more European city dwellers can enjoy that relaxing beach feeling just around the corner. Quick-witted restaurateurs are reclaiming disused areas in densely populated areas and turning them into exotic paradises with a Caribbean atmosphere. The entrepreneurial risk: if the summer is wet, the investment is likely to be washed away. However, restaurateurs who also invest in weather protection without watering down the authentic beach feeling will not, generally speaking, have built on sand. A pan-European survey.
 

 
Germany
 
The whole of Germany is beach bar territory. Practically every major German city has some place – an erstwhile industrial site, river bank or even the roof of a multistorey car park – where a few tonnes of sand have been tipped, a couple of hooded beach chairs placed on top and a straw hut installed as a bar. Often this is the work of well-established restaurateurs in the relevant town, the aim being to satisfy the Germans’ insatiable appetite for sun and experience. Occasionally, it’s industry newcomers for whom a temporary commitment to the food and beverage trade is simply an intermediate stop or second occupation (sooner or later many of the sites, which are available only for a limited period, are turned into building land). The level of commercial risk for city beach operators is not insignificant in Germany, where summer weather is harder to predict than almost anything else. Unexpected heat waves like those experienced in 2003, the hottest summer for a century, or in April of this year, seduced many into major investments, which were frequently washed away by persistent rain shortly thereafter. However, when the sun does come out, a great location and a couple of parasols and sunbeds are enough to ensure a ‘full beach’ for which plenty of visitors are prepared to pay an admission charge in addition to F&B consumption.
 
But competition particularly in the major cities (mainly Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt), has now become so intense that rising above the competition is no longer enough. Here, bar operators organise sports and dance events, live music and top class food and beverage menus, which can often be enjoyed in a exclusive surroundings, even when the weather is bad. Here are some excellent examples with a cult status:
 

 
Last June, the King Kamehameha Beach Club in Offenbach near Frankfurt earned the right to describe itself as one of the ‘World’s Finest Clubs’ when it was voted ‘best German beach club’ by a jury. The 11,000 sq m beach on the outskirts of the city between the banking capital and its (smaller) neighbour has created a furore with its innovative Mediterranean design and music festival, featuring stars from the international house scene. The King Kamehameha Club is one of the trendiest locations in Frankfurt and has sister loc ations on Majorca. In early summer 2004, KingKa creator Madjid Djamegari transported 5,000 t of quartz sand to the Offenbach harbour island, a sliver of land extending far out into the River Main and therefore surrounded by water on three sides. The site is split into three areas, offers three beach volleyball and two cageball soccer pitches plus a water skiing and wakeboarding school. Next to this lies the Party Zone with its large dance floor. The tip of the island has been transformed into a chill-out zone, where four-poster beds, beach hammocks and a massage pavilion promise a relaxed feeling of summer with fantastic views of Frankfurt’s skyline.
 

 
Read in the full article more about the following countries: UK, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Russia and Switzerland
 

 
| 10 August 2007 |