The Berlin Fire Department contained the blaze in Renate’s front garden within an hour.
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for fires in and around nightlife establishments. First, two restaurants and a bar next to Ushuaïa Ibiza were incinerated. Now, a fire has broken out in the front garden of Berlin club Renate.
Fortunately, though, the damage caused by each fire is hardly comparable. The Berlin Fire Department extinguished the latter blaze — which broke out around 2am CEST yesterday, June 19 — within an hour, and it didn’t seem to spread beyond the garden. Against all odds, Renate opened its doors to the public that night, when an event called Syntop x saHHara featuring artists like Rill Marsch and Paul Huck went on as planned.
The club’s ticket booth burned down, along with a photo booth and fence in front of the building, per Berliner Morgenpost. But the club’s interior remains intact. “We’re opening again this evening,” Renate’s managing director, Robert Kreissel, told the publication. “We got away with just a black eye.”
A gas cylinder was found in the garden area after the fire was contained, and two bottles were reportedly heard breaking shortly before it broke out. An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, and the Fire Department has not ruled out foul play.
While Renate’s latest crisis could have ended up much worse, the club is already dealing with its fair share of headaches. Last summer, its management cited rising costs due to an expiring lease agreement with property developer Gijora Padovicz as the cause of unprecedented strain on its bottom line. Barring a significant intervention, Renate’s team has said that it will close at the end of 2025.
Renate’s financial woes are but one case study in the clubsterben, meaning “death of clubs,” that faces a growing number of Berlin nightlife institutions.
