I reported earlier on the closure of most of the department stores in this town (although Karstadt has now got a three-year stay of execution - hurray!). What I didn't realise, though, was that it would also affect Carsch-Haus. That is also going to close - and with it the place where I go to eat my red Thai curry with tofu on Saturdays, when I spend the morning in the English Library.
I picked up some boxes of chocolate for my 'aunt' (Patentante) in Berlin and my aunt in Wales - both with birthdays this weekend - and was shocked to see that the place looked as though it had been raided. The woman at the till said they'd been told that they had until the end of the month to move out. And all the food outlets and shops would also have to go. They were only tenants there; they didn't own the property as they do with the flagship department store on the Kö.
Before class started, I rushed over to the Asian fast food restaurant I go to on Saturdays and asked the people there if they knew where they were going. "No idea," said the husband. "And we'd just spent money on this place." They had moved to this area of the basement about two years ago, spending money on more space and a new design and fittings. At least I now have a business card so that, if they leave with no notice, I can always ask where they are.
Ah, what a shame. In the past, there used to be a tram line that went from practically my front door right into the main station of the Altstadt. It was so convenient for getting to the English library and getting home after a night on the town. I had hopes that, when I was old and retired and could no longer toddle into town, I could take the tram there and I'd have my books, newspapers and red Thai curry with tofu all within easy reach.
Now the English library has to move out as the SPD mayor wants to sell the building to cover some of the debts he racked up getting the Tour de France to start from this town a few years ago. The tram line no longer goes through the Altstadt but a few hundred metres away. And now the other one of my favourite places to eat in is moving out. (Buon Giorno closed down at the end of 2018, when the building was sold for rebuilding.)
If things carry on like this, then I won't be retiring as I am counting on getting a pension from the UK when I reach 67. Just like I was counting on the tram taking me to the club-like atmosphere of the English library and on enjoying my favourite lunch in retirement.
Things do not bode well.
These are really bad news. What they can expect to get in those rooms when everybody is made to move out? Are they going to sell Carsch-Haus or what? It really is a pity.
ReplyDeleteAnd the English Library? (Or, International library, cannot remember which one is correct) - are they just moving or are they closing totally?
I am a bit shocked. But such bad news come everyday from everywhere, so this should not be a surprise anymore.
/ M.
Hello M.,
DeleteThe International English Library will not close down completely, but will have to move out. A lot of the other organisations in the building have already moved out. Some went last year.
The library will eventually end up in the building where the current German library is behind the station.
The massive post office building in front of the station and near the cinema is being converted so that it can house the new municipal library, the town archives, a small museum in the Hofgarten (can't remember the name now) and a few other things.
The VHS will move into the space where the current main German library is and, as the English library was originally run by the VHS, the VHS will give the library some space. At present, the amount of space is only half of what the library currently has. And it is said that there will be NO WINDOWS in the space.
But before that happens, the library might even have to move into temporary accommodation. Everything is uncertain. Thanks to the current SPD mayor.
Sounds like in our office. My company, a part of a larger company, has to move out for next 10 months, so that the Big brothr can move in. We have to be divided in four outlets, where goods will be moving between the outlets like a merry-go-round. Four outlets for incoming goods, six outlets for production and warehousing and five outlets for outgoing goods. This is insane. And this just as the Big Brother engineers did not accept being placed in temporary offices here in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteLife does not seem to be getting any easier - despite all the technology we have these days. Personally, I don't understand this phenomenon.
ReplyDelete