BERLIN — The German government approved a fundamental change to building regulations that would reclassify nightclubs as providing cultural and artistic value. The move aims to protect venues like those in Berlin from closure by granting them legal standing comparable to theaters and opera houses.
Under current regulations, nightclubs in Germany are classified alongside brothels, strip bars, and betting shops. The proposed reclassification would make it more difficult for developers to evict nightclub operators in favor of new construction and would allow nightclubs to operate in certain residential areas. Clubs will be generally permitted in mixed-use zones and exceptionally in special residential areas.
Marc Wohlrabe, a board member of the federal association of music venues in Germany, called the regulatory change a “historic moment” for German club culture. “The existing entertainment venue regulations date back to the last century when legislature and the authorities decided to lump together as shady everything that happened in the evenings, from red-light districts to strip bars, game halls, and music clubs, considering this incompatible with residential areas and families,” Wohlrabe said. “We’ve long maintained that curated music clubs have absolutely nothing to do with red-light district table dance bars. The club owners we represent operate more like a theatre – curating artists, nurturing emerging talent, and deserving to be designated as cultural centres alongside opera, theatre, and high culture.”
Wolfram Weimer, the federal culture minister, expressed support for the reclassification, stating it distinguishes nightclubs from pure entertainment venues. “This is an important step toward protecting and expanding the live music scene in Germany and sends a strong signal to the cultural and creative industries.”
Jakob Turtur, who runs the nightclub collective Jonny Knüppel, welcomed the building code changes but feared they came too late. “This could have come a lot sooner. It would not only have saved us a tremendous amount of work, money and effort, but above all, it would have given us the feeling that Berlin still has a thirst for grassroots socio-culture and cultural diversity – the kind of culture that made Berlin so exciting after the fall of the wall. Instead we’ve often been made to feel like criminals.” He is searching for a new, permanent location for Jonny Knüppel after being pushed out of premises on a former industrial wasteland by an international sports conglomerate. “A cultural classification like that would have helped provide urban planners with more tools to argue that clubs are essential for a vibrant and diverse city, and more important than profit-driven developments, like say, an office complex, which nobody needs these days anyway.”
The Clubsterben (death of clubs) phenomenon has grown across Germany in recent years and has been particularly acute in Berlin. Rising real estate costs, post-pandemic social shifts, and noise disputes have threatened the closure of many clubs. Legendary venues such as SchwuZ, Watergate, and Mensch Meier are among the most prominent recent club shutdowns in Berlin. SchwuZ, founded in 1977, was Germany’s oldest queer club and closed in November 2025. The Clubcommission estimates that nearly half of Berlin’s clubs are considering closing.