The Northern End of Neukölln Has Not Been Discovered Yet. Go Now.
Neukölln has been discovered. That conversation is over. Reuterkiez, Schillerpromenade, the canal — if you read about Berlin nightlife in the past eight years, you read about these. They are good. They are also finished becoming themselves, which means they are in the process of becoming something else.
The northern end of Neukölln — the stretch between Hermannplatz and the ring, east of Sonnenallee — has not been through that process yet. I spent three evenings there last week taking notes. Here is what I found.
Why nobody writes about it
It does not photograph well. The bars are small and often look, from the outside, like they might not be bars. The signage is minimal or absent. The streets are not pretty in the way that travel photography requires streets to be pretty.
What there is: a density of small, specific, cheap-to-drink-in rooms that have been serving the same neighbourhood for years without needing to change because the neighbourhood has not changed yet. This is increasingly rare in Berlin. Enjoy it while it is true.
Three places worth finding
I am going to describe these without addresses or names. If you are the kind of person for whom that is frustrating, this is probably not the part of Neukölln for you.
The first is a bar on a corner near a U-Bahn entrance that has been there, in various forms, since the late 1980s. Berliner Kindl on tap, two craft options rotating, €3.20 for a half-litre. The furniture is unmatched in the way that comes from actual accumulation rather than interior design choices meant to look like accumulation. The regulars are in their forties and fifties. They are not unfriendly to strangers who order without making a performance of it.
The second is a wine bar that has no business being as good as it is at this end of Neukölln. Natural wines, mostly German and Austrian, nothing over €7 a glass. The owner sources everything himself and will tell you about each bottle if you ask and not if you don’t. It opened eighteen months ago. It has not been written about. I asked the owner if he worried about being discovered. He shrugged and said he worried more about making rent.
The third is not really a bar. It is a Turkish tea house that has a licence and will serve you Efes if you want one, but what you should drink is the tea, which costs €1.50 and comes in a tulip glass and is correct in a way that €8 cocktails in Mitte are not. It is open until midnight most nights.
When to go
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Not weekends — by Friday the discovery gradient has reached even here, and the bar population shifts accordingly. Midweek, northern Neukölln is still a neighbourhood rather than a destination. The difference is palpable.
Get off at Hermannplatz and walk east. Give it an evening. Bring cash — most of these places are cash only, not as an aesthetic choice but because they have always been cash only and see no reason to change.
How long this lasts
I have been in Berlin for twelve years. I have watched Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Neukölln proper, and parts of Wedding go through this process. Each time, the window between “not discovered” and “finished being discovered” is shorter.
Northern Neukölln has maybe two years. Possibly less. Go before the first lifestyle piece lands and the rents follow.
Felix Brandt writes about Berlin’s neighbourhoods, nightlife, and culture for Journallo. He moved from Hamburg to Berlin twelve years ago and still lives in Prenzlauer Berg.
